--- title: When the Prince grew old enough to understand, he soon learned that… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When the Prince grew old enough to understand, he soon learned that there could be nothing worse than to be proud, obstinate, and conceited, and he had really tried to cure himself of these defects, but by that time all his faults had become habits; and a bad habit is very hard to get rid of. Who ac --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/39/50/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Prince Darling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/39/) / 50 # The Blue Fairy Book, Prince Darling, sentence 50 When the Prince grew old enough to understand, he soon learned that there could be nothing worse than to be proud, obstinate, and conceited, and he had really tried to cure himself of these defects, but by that time all his faults had become habits; and a bad habit is very hard to get rid of. **Who acts:** Prince, nothing, faults, bad habit · **What happens:** grow, understand, learn, be, try, cure · **To what, where:** prince, habits · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Darling. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, nothing, faults, bad habit), 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:pg503:39:50 # text = When the Prince grew old enough to understand, he soon learned that there could be nothing worse than to be proud, obstinate, and conceited, and he had really tried to cure himself of these defects, but by that time all his faults had become habits; and a bad habit is very hard to get rid of. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 advcl _ _ 5 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 xcomp _ _ 6 enough enough ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 12 advmod _ _ 12 learned learn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 14 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 16 expl _ _ 15 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 be be VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 17 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 16 nsubj _ _ 18 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 17 amod _ _ 19 than than SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 22 mark _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 22 cop _ _ 22 proud proud ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 obstinate obstinate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 conceited conceited ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 31 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 really really ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 tried try VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 conj _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 cure cure VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 35 obj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 39 det _ _ 39 defects defect NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 41 but but CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 42 by by ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 44 det _ _ 44 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl _ _ 45 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 47 det:predet _ _ 46 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 faults fault NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 nsubj _ _ 48 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 49 become become VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 conj _ _ 50 habits habit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 51 ; ; PUNCT : _ 58 punct _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 53 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 54 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 55 habit habit NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nsubj _ _ 56 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 58 cop _ _ 57 very very ADV RB _ 58 advmod _ _ 58 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 conj _ _ 59 to to PART TO _ 60 mark _ _ 60 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 58 csubj _ _ 61 rid rid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 60 xcomp _ _ 62 of of ADP IN _ 61 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 63 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **grow** | past | the Prince | | | | | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **understand** | to-infinitive | the Prince *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **learn** | past | prince | | | | | soon *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **can** | could | nothing | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **is** | to-infinitive | nothing *not said here* | | | | | proud *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **be** | | nothing *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **be** | | nothing *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **try** | past · perfect | prince | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 9 | **cure** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* | prince | | | | of this defects | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer himself=Source of defect=Theme | | 10 | **become** | past · perfect | prince's faults | habits | | | time | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 11 | **is** | present | a bad habit | | | | | hard *property* | tree rules | | 12 | **get** | to-infinitive | | | | | | rid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 13 | **fault** | | prince | | | | | | nom fault «act 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/39/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/39/51/) - ↑ back to [Prince Darling](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/39/)