---
title: It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot of t… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot of them for a little, till at last he tried to climb up, which at last he did. Who acts: It, Prince. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Ring (30), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, Prince Ring (30), sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot of them for a little, till at last he tried to climb up, which at last he did.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, Prince · **What happens:** seem, get up, go, try, climb up, do · **To what, where:** these, foot, last

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Ring (30). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Prince), 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:pg640:42:21
# text = It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot of them for a little, till at last he tried to climb up, which at last he did.
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	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	along	along	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nmod	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	till	till	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **get up** | to-infinitive |  | these |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | past | Prince |  |  | the foot of rocks |  | for a little | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent along foot=Location for little=Theme |
| 4 | **try** | past | Prince |  |  |  | till last |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **climb up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  | last |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at last=Trajectory |
| 6 | **do** | past | Prince | last *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent last=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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