---
title: She threw a lot of gold nuts into the pond, hoping in this way to ca… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: She threw a lot of gold nuts into the pond, hoping in this way to catch the duck, but all her efforts were fruitless, for the little creature refused to let itself be caught. Who acts: woman, efforts, little creature, creature. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Glass Mountain(16), part 5, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She threw a lot of gold nuts into the pond, hoping in this way to catch the duck, but all her efforts were fruitless, for the little creature refused to let itself be caught.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** woman, efforts, little creature, creature · **What happens:** throw, hope, catch, be, refuse, not let · **To what, where:** lot, pond, way, duck, creature

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain(16), part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, efforts, little creature, creature), 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:pg640:26:8
# text = She threw a lot of gold nuts into the pond, hoping in this way to catch the duck, but all her efforts were fruitless, for the little creature refused to let itself be caught.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	fruitless	fruitless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	34	obj	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | past | woman | a lot of gold nuts |  |  |  | into the pond *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer lot=Theme into pond=Result |
| 2 | **hope** | gerund | woman *not said here* |  |  | this way |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **catch** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | the duck |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | woman's efforts |  |  |  |  | fruitless *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **refuse** | past | the little creature |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **let** | to-infinitive | the little creature *not said here* | creature |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **catch** | infinitive · passive | creature *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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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