---
title: He had tried to learn magic himself, but somehow or other his spells… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He had tried to learn magic himself, but somehow or other his spells would never work, and he was furious to hear that the prince claimed a power that he did not possess. Who acts: king, spells, prince. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21, with its 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had tried to learn magic himself, but somehow or other his spells would never work, and he was furious to hear that the prince claimed a power that he did not possess.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, spells, prince · **What happens:** try, learn, not work, be, hear, claim · **To what, where:** magic, power · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, spells, prince), 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:pg2435:21:64
# text = He had tried to learn magic himself, but somehow or other his spells would never work, and he was furious to hear that the prince claimed a power that he did not possess.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	6	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	furious	furious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	csubj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	claimed	claim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	possess	possess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past · perfect | king |  |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **learn** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | magic  king |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magic=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **work** | would | king's spells |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | king |  |  |  |  | furious *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **hear** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **claim** *speech: other* | past | the prince | a power |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **possess** | past · do-support | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 8 | **spell** |  | king |  |  |  |  |  | nom spell «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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