--- title: It was in vain that the nyamatsanes tried to climb up and reach him;… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It was in vain that the nyamatsanes tried to climb up and reach him; they slid down again much faster than they had gone up; and by sunset they were quite worn out, and fell asleep at the foot of the rock. Who acts: hero, nyamatsanes. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fair --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/18/) [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 Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/) / 18 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 18 It was in vain that the nyamatsanes tried to climb up and reach him; they slid down again much faster than they had gone up; and by sunset they were quite worn out, and fell asleep at the foot of the rock. **Who acts:** hero, nyamatsanes · **What happens:** be, try, climb up, reach, slide down, go up · **To what, where:** man, nyamatsanes, foot This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hero, nyamatsanes), 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:pg5615:35:18 # text = It was in vain that the nyamatsanes tried to climb up and reach him; they slid down again much faster than they had gone up; and by sunset they were quite worn out, and fell asleep at the foot of the rock. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 nyamatsanes nyamatsane NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 8 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 climb climb VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 11 up up ADP RP _ 10 compound:prt _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 reach reach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 14 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 slid slide VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 18 down down ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 again again ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 20 much much ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 21 faster fast ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 25 advmod _ _ 22 than than SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 26 up up ADP RP _ 25 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 29 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 sunset sunset NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux:pass _ _ 33 quite quite ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 worn wear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 35 out out ADP RP _ 34 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 advcl _ _ 39 asleep asleep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 xcomp _ _ 40 at at ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | hero | | | | | vain *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **try** | past | the nyamatsanes | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **climb up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the nyamatsanes *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **reach** | infinitive | the nyamatsanes *not said here* | man | | | | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 5 | **slide down** | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* | | | | again | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **go up** | past · perfect | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* | | | | | fast *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 7 | **wear out** | past · passive | | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* | | | sunset | | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: subject=Source | | 8 | **fall** | past | | | | the foot of the rock | | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at foot=Location | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/17/) - next →: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/19/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/)