---
title: In despair he thought at least that he would try to get near enough… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In despair he thought at least that he would try to get near enough to speak to the Dear Little Princess, who, on her part, stretched out her hand that he might kiss it; but turn which way he might, he never could raise it to his lips, for his long nose always prevented it. Who acts: Prince, long no
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess, sentence 100

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In despair he thought at least that he would try to get near enough to speak to the Dear Little Princess, who, on her part, stretched out her hand that he might kiss it; but turn which way he might, he never could raise it to his lips, for his long nose always prevented it.

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**Who acts:** Prince, long nose · **What happens:** think, try, get, speak, stretch out, kiss · **To what, where:** despair, least, hand, part, way, lips · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, long nose), 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:pg503:3:100
# text = In despair he thought at least that he would try to get near enough to speak to the Dear Little Princess, who, on her part, stretched out her hand that he might kiss it; but turn which way he might, he never could raise it to his lips, for his long nose always prevented it.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	obl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	near	near	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	Dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	conj	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	kiss	kiss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
41	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	42	det	_	_
42	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
47	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	49	advmod	_	_
48	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	raise	raise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
55	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
57	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nsubj	_	_
59	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	60	advmod	_	_
60	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	_
61	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Prince |  |  | despair |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **try** | would | Prince |  |  | least |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | enough, near *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the Dear Little Princess | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to princess=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **stretch out** | participle | Prince *not said here* | princess's hand |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 6 | **kiss** | might | Prince | part |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Co-Agent |
| 7 | **turn** | present | Prince *not said here* | which way |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 8 | **not** **raise** | could | Prince | way |  | Prince's lips |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to lip=Destination |
| 9 | **prevent** | past | Prince's long nose | way |  |  |  | always *property* | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Theme |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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