---
title: Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess the reason of the chang… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess the reason of the change in her, nor why the new mirror was consulted so often; but try as he would he could never see the face of the person who was reflected in it, for the young girl’s figure always came between. Who acts: Saphir, figure, young girl. A
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess the reason of the change in her, nor why the new mirror was consulted so often; but try as he would he could never see the face of the person who was reflected in it, for the young girl’s figure always came between.

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**Who acts:** Saphir, figure, young girl · **What happens:** not be, guess, consult, try, not see, reflect · **To what, where:** reason, new mirror, face, person, mirror

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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 (Saphir, figure, young girl), 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:pg640:11:28
# text = Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess the reason of the change in her, nor why the new mirror was consulted so often; but try as he would he could never see the face of the person who was reflected in it, for the young girl’s figure always came between.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	expl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Saphir	Saphir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	24	cc	_	_
19	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	mirror	mirror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	consulted	consult	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	often	often	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	try	try	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
30	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	reflected	reflect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	acl:relcl	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’s	's	PART	POS	_	51	case	_	_
53	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	parataxis	_	_
54	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	55	advmod	_	_
55	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	acl:relcl	_	_
56	between	between	ADP	IN	_	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  | now | for Saphir; difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **guess** | to-infinitive |  | the reason of the change in girl |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 3 | **consult** | past · passive |  | the new mirror |  |  |  | often *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **try** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **not** **see** *not said to happen* | could | Saphir | the face of the person |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer face=Stimulus |
| 6 | **reflect** | past · passive |  | the person |  | mirror |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **come** | past | the young girl's figure *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **figure** |  | the young girl |  |  |  |  |  | nom figure «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 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.

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