---
title: It seemed to Saphir that this was exactly the place where the birds… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed to Saphir that this was exactly the place where the birds would choose to live, and he determined not to quit the wood until he had examined it from end to end. Who acts: It, this, birds, bird. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, with its depen
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 2, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It seemed to Saphir that this was exactly the place where the birds would choose to live, and he determined not to quit the wood until he had examined it from end to end.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, this, birds, bird · **What happens:** seem, be, choose, live, determine, not quit · **To what, where:** Saphir, place, wood, end

<!-- .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, this, birds, bird), 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:pg640:11:57
# text = It seemed to Saphir that this was exactly the place where the birds would choose to live, and he determined not to quit the wood until he had examined it from end to end.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Saphir	Saphir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	xcomp	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	determined	determine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	quit	quit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	examined	examine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  | Saphir |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | the place |  |  |  | exactly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **choose** | would | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **live** | to-infinitive | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **determine** | past | bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **quit** | to-infinitive | bird *not said here* | the wood |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Source |
| 7 | **examine** | past · perfect | bird | wood |  |  | from end; to end |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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