---
title: But, alas! his courage would have availed him nothing had his enemy… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But, alas! his courage would have availed him nothing had his enemy once touched him, for he was large and powerful, and very fierce. Who acts: nothing, enemy, Gon. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But, alas! his courage would have availed him nothing had his enemy once touched him, for he was large and powerful, and very fierce.

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**Who acts:** nothing, enemy, Gon · **What happens:** avail, have, touch, be · **To what, where:** courage, enemy, Gon

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nothing, enemy, Gon), 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:pg5615:1:46
# text = But, alas! his courage would have availed him nothing had his enemy once touched him, for he was large and powerful, and very fierce.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
3	alas	alas	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	availed	avail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	12	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	advmod	_	_
16	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	very	very	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **avail** | would · perfect · passive |  | Gon's courage |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | nothing | Gon's enemy |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enemy=Patient |
| 3 | **touch** | past | Gon's enemy *not said here* | Gon |  |  |  | once *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme he=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | Gon |  |  |  |  | large *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | Gon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | Gon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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