---
title: The only puzzle was how he could do so much, working all alone, and… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The only puzzle was how he could do so much, working all alone, and also why he worked with closed doors. Who acts: only puzzle, Labakan. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/35/127/)

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 127

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The only puzzle was how he could do so much, working all alone, and also why he worked with closed doors.

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**Who acts:** only puzzle, Labakan · **What happens:** be, work, close

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (only puzzle, Labakan), 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:pg2435:35:127
# text = The only puzzle was how he could do so much, working all alone, and also why he worked with closed doors.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	puzzle	puzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
13	all	all	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	also	also	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	acl:relcl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | could · past | the only puzzle |  |  |  |  | do *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | gerund | the only puzzle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **work** | past | Labakan |  |  |  |  | with closed doors | vn cooperate-73.1-3 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.theme»: agent=Agent with door=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **close** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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:** «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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