---
title: But somehow his spells could not have worked properly that day, as t… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But somehow his spells could not have worked properly that day, as the bear chief did not know that Redmouth had gone with his master, or he would have been more careful. Who acts: bear chief, Redmouth, chief, boy. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15, w
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But somehow his spells could not have worked properly that day, as the bear chief did not know that Redmouth had gone with his master, or he would have been more careful.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bear chief, Redmouth, chief, boy · **What happens:** not work, not know, go, be, spell · **To what, where:** spells · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear chief, Redmouth, chief, boy), 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:pg3282:15:3
# text = But somehow his spells could not have worked properly that day, as the bear chief did not know that Redmouth had gone with his master, or he would have been more careful.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux	_	_
8	worked	work	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	Redmouth	Redmouth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	ccomp	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
32	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	cop	_	_
33	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	34	advmod	_	_
34	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **work** | could · perfect · passive |  | boy's spells |  |  | day | properly *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: subject=Material |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the bear chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | past · perfect | Redmouth |  |  |  |  | with chief's master | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with master=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **is** | would · perfect | chief |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **spell** |  | boy |  |  |  |  |  | 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 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.

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