---
title: He was so vexed with his own folly, and so taken aback at the disast… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was so vexed with his own folly, and so taken aback at the disaster, that he did not attempt to explain his conduct, and things would have gone badly with him if his friends the fairies had not softened the hearts of his captors, so that they once more allowed him to leave quietly. Who acts: Prin
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 3, sentence 2

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He was so vexed with his own folly, and so taken aback at the disaster, that he did not attempt to explain his conduct, and things would have gone badly with him if his friends the fairies had not softened the hearts of his captors, so that they once more allowed him to leave quietly.

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**Who acts:** Prince, friends · **What happens:** vex, take, not attempt, not explain, go, not soften · **To what, where:** Prince, disaster, conduct, things, hearts

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, friends), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg640:12:2
# text = He was so vexed with his own folly, and so taken aback at the disaster, that he did not attempt to explain his conduct, and things would have gone badly with him if his friends the fairies had not softened the hearts of his captors, so that they once more allowed him to leave quietly.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	vexed	vex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
13	aback	aback	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	disaster	disaster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	attempt	attempt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	explain	explain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux	_	_
32	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
33	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
36	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	conj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	softened	soften	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	captors	captor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
50	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	55	mark	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	50	fixed	_	_
52	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	54	advmod	_	_
54	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	55	advmod	_	_
55	allowed	allow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
56	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	iobj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
59	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vex** | past · passive |  | Prince |  |  |  | with Prince's own folly | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **take** | participle |  |  |  | the disaster |  | aback *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent at disaster=Asset |
| 3 | **not** **attempt** | past · do-support | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **explain** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* | Prince's conduct |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conduct=Topic |
| 5 | **go** | would · perfect · passive |  | things |  |  |  | with Prince; badly *property* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **soften** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Prince's friends and the fairies | the hearts of Prince's captors |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent heart=Patient |
| 7 | **allow** | past | friends *= friend* |  | Prince |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer he=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **leave** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quietly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **conduct** |  | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act 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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