---
title: This thought drove him to despair, and he had almost made up his min… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This thought drove him to despair, and he had almost made up his mind to return to the place of her captivity, when one day, as he was strolling along an alley in the woods, he saw a huge oak open its trunk, and out of it step two Princes in earnest conversation. Who acts: This, palace. A sentence o
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3, sentence 71

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This thought drove him to despair, and he had almost made up his mind to return to the place of her captivity, when one day, as he was strolling along an alley in the woods, he saw a huge oak open its trunk, and out of it step two Princes in earnest conversation.

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**Who acts:** This, palace · **What happens:** think, drive, despair, make up, return, stroll · **To what, where:** palace, mind, woods, huge oak, two Princes, trunk · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), 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 (This, palace), 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:pg640:16:71
# text = This thought drove him to despair, and he had almost made up his mind to return to the place of her captivity, when one day, as he was strolling along an alley in the woods, he saw a huge oak open its trunk, and out of it step two Princes in earnest conversation.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	despair	despair	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	captivity	captivity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
26	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	strolling	stroll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
33	along	along	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	alley	alley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	out	out	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obl	_	_
53	step	step	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
54	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	55	nummod	_	_
55	Princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obj	_	_
56	in	in	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	earnest	earn	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	58	amod	_	_
58	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | This |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **drive** | past |  | palace |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **despair** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **make up** | past · perfect | palace | palace's mind |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Pivot |
| 5 | **return** | to-infinitive | palace *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the place of Fairy's captivity and one day *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to place=Result |
| 6 | **stroll** | past · progressive | palace |  |  | the woods |  | along a alley | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along alley=Trajectory |
| 7 | **see** | past | palace | a huge oak and wood's open trunk |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer oak=Stimulus |
| 8 | **step** | present | palace *not said here* | two Princes |  | trunk |  | in earnest conversation | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location prince=Theme |
| 9 | **mind** |  | palace |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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