---
title: The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed to… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed to have grown dull, and he wanted to do something he had never done before. Who acts: sports, life. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 105

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed to have grown dull, and he wanted to do something he had never done before.

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**Who acts:** sports, life · **What happens:** have, seem, grow, want, do, not do · **To what, where:** that, something

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sports, life), 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:pg3454:8:105
# text = The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed to have grown dull, and he wanted to do something he had never done before.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sports	sport	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	pleased	pleased	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
10	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	12	advmod	_	_
11	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
15	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	xcomp	_	_
16	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	obj	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	before	before	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the sports | that |  |  |  | pleased *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 2 | **seem** | past | the sports *not said here* |  |  |  |  | suddenly, well *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **grow** | to-infinitive · perfect | the sports *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dull *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **want** | past | life |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | life *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **do** | past · perfect | life |  |  |  |  | before *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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