---
title: But it was not very easy, and for months, and months, and months, he… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But it was not very easy, and for months, and months, and months, he wandered about underground, and, at the end, seemed no nearer to fulfilling his purpose than he was at the beginning. Who acts: Paul, end. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 31, with
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 105

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it was not very easy, and for months, and months, and months, he wandered about underground, and, at the end, seemed no nearer to fulfilling his purpose than he was at the beginning.

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**Who acts:** Paul, end · **What happens:** not be, wander, seem, fulfil, be, purpose · **To what, where:** purpose

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Paul, end), 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:pg2435:31:105
# text = But it was not very easy, and for months, and months, and months, he wandered about underground, and, at the end, seemed no nearer to fulfilling his purpose than he was at the beginning.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	expl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	about	about	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	underground	underground	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
30	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	31	det	_	_
31	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	xcomp	_	_
32	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	fulfilling	fulfil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	than	than	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	beginning	beginning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  | month | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **wander** | past | Paul |  |  |  | month | underground *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **seem** | past | the end |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fulfil** | gerund | the end *not said here* | Paul's purpose |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | Paul |  |  |  | than the beginning |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **purpose** |  | Paul |  |  |  |  |  | nom purpose «cognition intransitive»: 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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