---
title: Several days were spent in these interesting conversations, but at l… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Several days were spent in these interesting conversations, but at length Zayda’s mother began to think of the best means for placing the Prince on the throne, which was his by right. Who acts: throne. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain(16), part 2, with its dep
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Glass Mountain(16), part 2, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Several days were spent in these interesting conversations, but at length Zayda’s mother began to think of the best means for placing the Prince on the throne, which was his by right.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** throne · **What happens:** spend, begin, think, mean, place, be · **To what, where:** Several days, interesting conversations, length, Prince, throne

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain(16), 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 (throne), 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:pg640:23:22
# text = Several days were spent in these interesting conversations, but at length Zayda’s mother began to think of the best means for placing the Prince on the throne, which was his by right.
1	Several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	nsubj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
7	interesting	interesting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	conversations	conversation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
13	Zayda	Zayda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	appos	_	_
16	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	ccomp	_	_
22	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	placing	place	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	conj	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spend** | past · passive |  | Several days |  | this interesting conversations |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset |
| 2 | **begin** | past |  |  |  | length |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **place** | gerund |  | the Prince |  | the throne |  | by right | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent prince=Theme on throne=Destination |
| 6 | **is a** | past | the throne | Prince |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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