---
title: Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerab… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerable difficulty in inventing a new "sell." Who acts: late Sothern, considerable difficulty. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LXXXVI. Wise Men of Gotham, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, LXXXVI. Wise Men of Gotham, sentence 14

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Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerable difficulty in inventing a new "sell."

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**Who acts:** late Sothern, considerable difficulty · **What happens:** have, invent, sell · **To what, where:** considerable difficulty, new

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LXXXVI. Wise Men of Gotham. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (late Sothern, considerable difficulty), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg14241:79:14
# text = Even such an inventive genius as the late Mr. Sothern had considerable difficulty in inventing a new "sell."
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	5	det:predet	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	inventive	inventive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	genius	genius	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:desc	_	_
10	Sothern	Sothern	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
12	considerable	considerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	inventing	invent	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obj	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the late Sothern  Mr. | considerable difficulty |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent difficulty=Patient |
| 2 | **invent** | gerund | considerable difficulty *not said here* | a new |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent new=Result |
| 3 | **sell** *in a quote* | infinitive | considerable difficulty *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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