---
title: This was the doing of the fairies, and we must suppose that they had… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This was the doing of the fairies, and we must suppose that they had their reasons for acting as they did. Who acts: This, we, fairies, reasons. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/11/30/)

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This was the doing of the fairies, and we must suppose that they had their reasons for acting as they did.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** This, we, fairies, reasons · **What happens:** do, suppose, have, act · **To what, where:** reasons · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (This, we, fairies, reasons), 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:pg640:11:30
# text = This was the doing of the fairies, and we must suppose that they had their reasons for acting as they did.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	suppose	suppose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	reasons	reason	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	acting	act	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · progressive | This |  |  |  |  | of the fairies | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **suppose** | must | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | fairies *= fairy* | fairies's reasons |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient |
| 4 | **act** | gerund | fairies *= fairy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** | past | reasons *= reason* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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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