---
title: Esben thought that this was the worst errand that he had had yet, bu… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Esben thought that this was the worst errand that he had had yet, but he could not do worse than fail, and so he would make the attempt. Who acts: Esben, this, property. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 44

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Esben thought that this was the worst errand that he had had yet, but he could not do worse than fail, and so he would make the attempt.

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**Who acts:** Esben, this, property · **What happens:** think, be, have, not do, make · **To what, where:** worst errand, attempt

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Esben, this, property), 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:pg5615:29:44
# text = Esben thought that this was the worst errand that he had had yet, but he could not do worse than fail, and so he would make the attempt.
1	Esben	Esben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
20	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	19	xcomp	_	_
21	than	than	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	fail	fail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Esben |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | the worst errand |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past · perfect | property | the worst errand |  |  | yet |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **do** | could | property |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | would | property | the attempt |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Product |

<!-- .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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