---
title: “I can tell you this,” replied the shell, “that if you attempt to ma… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “I can tell you this,” replied the shell, “that if you attempt to marry Prince Baki’s mother you will find yourself in a very unpleasant position.” Who acts: shell, you. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of Room Bacha and Baki., with its depe
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of Room Bacha and Baki., sentence 99

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“I can tell you this,” replied the shell, “that if you attempt to marry Prince Baki’s mother you will find yourself in a very unpleasant position.”

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**Who acts:** shell, you · **What happens:** tell, reply, attempt, marry, find · **To what, where:** you, mother, yourself, unpleasant position · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of Room Bacha and Baki.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shell, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75000:22:99
# text = “I can tell you this,” replied the shell, “that if you attempt to marry Prince Baki’s mother you will find yourself in a very unpleasant position.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	attempt	attempt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod:desc	_	_
21	Baki	Baki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’s	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
27	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	position	position	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | can | the shell *= shell* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the shell |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **attempt** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **marry** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | Baki  Prince's mother |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=Patient |
| 5 | **find** *in a quote* | future | you | yourself |  | a unpleasant position |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yourself=Topic |

<!-- .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:** «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (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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