---
title: “Dear me,” replied the Hare, “this is a very strange story, and befo… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “Dear me,” replied the Hare, “this is a very strange story, and before giving an opinion on so momentous a matter it is necessary that I should understand exactly how it all happened. Who acts: me, this, momentous, I. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of Good Faith., sentence 85

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“Dear me,” replied the Hare, “this is a very strange story, and before giving an opinion on so momentous a matter it is necessary that I should understand exactly how it all happened.

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**Who acts:** me, this, momentous, I, it · **What happens:** reply, be, give, understand, happen · **To what, where:** strange story, opinion · **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 Good Faith.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (me, this, momentous, I), 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:pg75000:4:85
# text = “Dear me,” replied the Hare, “this is a very strange story, and before giving an opinion on so momentous a matter it is necessary that I should understand exactly how it all happened.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Hare	Hare	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	very	very	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
25	momentous	momentous	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	30	nsubj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	expl	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	advcl	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
35	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	all	all	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | me |  |  |  |  | the Hare *nsubj* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | this | a strange story |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** *in a quote* | gerund | me *not said here* | a opinion |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opinion=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | momentous |  |  |  |  | a matter *nsubj*; necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **understand** *in a quote* | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **happen** *in a quote* | past | it |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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