---
title: Filled with joy at his cure, he tried to seize the bird to whom he o… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Filled with joy at his cure, he tried to seize the bird to whom he owed it all, but, swifter than a swallow, it managed to avoid him. Who acts: cure, bird, swifter. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Filled with joy at his cure, he tried to seize the bird to whom he owed it all, but, swifter than a swallow, it managed to avoid him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cure, bird, swifter · **What happens:** fill, try, seize, owe, manage, avoid · **To what, where:** bird, joy

<!-- .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 (cure, bird, swifter), 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:pg640:11:45
# text = Filled with joy at his cure, he tried to seize the bird to whom he owed it all, but, swifter than a swallow, it managed to avoid him.
1	Filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
2	with	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	cure	cure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	owed	owe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	swifter	swifter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
24	than	than	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fill** | participle | bird's cure *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with joy | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with joy=Instrument |
| 2 | **try** | past | bird's cure |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **seize** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | bird's cure *not said here* | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme |
| 4 | **owe** | past | bird | joy |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **manage** | past | swifter than a swallow |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **avoid** | to-infinitive | swifter than a swallow *not said here* | bird |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent he=Location |

<!-- .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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