---
title: Certainly it was very delightful to be able to see her whom he loved… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Certainly it was very delightful to be able to see her whom he loved at any moment he chose, but his spirits sometimes sank when he wondered what was to be the end of this adventure. Who acts: it, movement, spirits. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, wi
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/23/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Donkey Cabbage, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/) / 23

# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Certainly it was very delightful to be able to see her whom he loved at any moment he chose, but his spirits sometimes sank when he wondered what was to be the end of this adventure.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, movement, spirits · **What happens:** be, see, love, choose, sink, wonder · **To what, where:** girl, moment, end · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, movement, spirits), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg640:11:23
# text = Certainly it was very delightful to be able to see her whom he loved at any moment he chose, but his spirits sometimes sank when he wondered what was to be the end of this adventure.
1	Certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	delightful	delightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	csubj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	obj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
24	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	25	advmod	_	_
25	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
29	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	34	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	ccomp	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	det	_	_
37	adventure	adventure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | certainly, delightful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | girl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **love** | past | movement |  |  |  | moment |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer whom=Stimulus |
| 5 | **choose** | past | movement | any moment *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent moment=Theme |
| 6 | **sink** | past | movement's spirits |  |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | movement |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **is a** | past |  | the end |  |  |  | of this adventure | 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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/22/)
- next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/24/)
- ↑ back to [The Donkey Cabbage, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/)