--- title: But either that was harder than usual, or he must be ill, for he cou… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But either that was harder than usual, or he must be ill, for he could not fix his mind upon it, and everybody he came across during the day inquired if anything had happened to give him that white, frightened look. Who acts: that, he, everybody, anything. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/) / 2 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 2 But either that was harder than usual, or he must be ill, for he could not fix his mind upon it, and everybody he came across during the day inquired if anything had happened to give him that white, frightened look. **Who acts:** that, he, everybody, anything, his · **What happens:** be, not fix, come, inquire, happen, give · **To what, where:** mind, day, him This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, he, everybody, anything), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3282:11:2 # text = But either that was harder than usual, or he must be ill, for he could not fix his mind upon it, and everybody he came across during the day inquired if anything had happened to give him that white, frightened look. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 either either ADV RB PronType=Ind 5 advmod _ _ 3 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 5 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 5 harder hard ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 6 than than ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 usual usual ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 9 or or CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 13 cop _ _ 13 ill ill ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 for for SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 19 advmod _ _ 19 fix fix VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 20 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 mind mind NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 22 upon upon ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 26 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 28 nsubj _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 29 across across ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 30 during during ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 33 inquired inquire VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 acl _ _ 34 if if SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 37 nsubj _ _ 36 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 happened happen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 33 advcl _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 40 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 iobj _ _ 41 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 45 nsubj _ _ 42 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 44 frightened frightened ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 look look NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | that | | | | | than usual; either, hard *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | must | he | | | | | ill *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **fix** | could | he | his mind | | | | upon mind | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent mind=Patient | | 4 | **come** | past | everybody | | | | day | across *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle | | the day *not said here* | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | anything | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **give** | to-infinitive | anything *not said here* | | him *= he* | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 8 | **look** | | that | | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **mind** | | his *= he* | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **Text:** «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/3/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/)