---
title: The gnome tried hard by every means in his power to please the princ… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The gnome tried hard by every means in his power to please the princess and win her love, but little did he guess the real reason of his lack of success. Who acts: gnome, every, princess. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 84

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gnome tried hard by every means in his power to please the princess and win her love, but little did he guess the real reason of his lack of success.

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**Who acts:** gnome, every, princess · **What happens:** try, mean, please, win, guess, love · **To what, where:** princess, love, real reason, success

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown 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 (gnome, every, princess), 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:pg3282:31:84
# text = The gnome tried hard by every means in his power to please the princess and win her love, but little did he guess the real reason of his lack of success.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gnome	gnome	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
5	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	nsubj	_	_
7	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
22	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	success	success	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the gnome |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **mean** | present | every |  |  |  |  | in gnome's power | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in power=Attribute |
| 3 | **please** | to-infinitive | every *not said here* | the princess |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus princess=Experiencer |
| 4 | **win** | infinitive | every *not said here* | princess's love |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent love=Eventuality |
| 5 | **guess** | past · do-support | gnome | the real reason of gnome's lack of success |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 6 | **love** |  | princess |  |  |  |  |  | nom love «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |
| 7 | **lack** |  | gnome | success |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

<!-- .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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