---
title: “Well,” said the frog, “if you promise me to do whatever I bid you f… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Well,” said the frog, “if you promise me to do whatever I bid you for a whole night long, I'll tell you how to fill it.” Who acts: frog, you. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Well of the World's End, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The Well of the World's End, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Well,” said the frog, “if you promise me to do whatever I bid you for a whole night long, I'll tell you how to fill it.”

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**Who acts:** frog, you · **What happens:** say, promise, do, bid, tell, fill · **To what, where:** frog, whatever, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Well of the World's End. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (frog, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7439:47:14
# text = “Well,” said the frog, “if you promise me to do whatever I bid you for a whole night long, I'll tell you how to fill it.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	promise	promise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	bid	bid	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	iobj	_	_
30	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the frog |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **promise** *speech: promise* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you |  | the frog *= frog* |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **bid** *in a quote* | past | the frog *= frog* | whatever |  |  | night | long *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | future | the frog *= frog* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **fill** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the frog *= frog* *not said here* | frog |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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