--- title: It was so learned, long, and so full of the hardest Chinese words th… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It was so learned, long, and so full of the hardest Chinese words that everyone said they had read it and understood it; for once they had been very stupid about a book, and had been trampled under foot in consequence. Who acts: everyone, words. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/48/129/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Nightingale](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/48/) / 129 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Nightingale, sentence 129 It was so learned, long, and so full of the hardest Chinese words that everyone said they had read it and understood it; for once they had been very stupid about a book, and had been trampled under foot in consequence. **Who acts:** everyone, words · **What happens:** learn, say, read, understand, be, trample · **To what, where:** work, hardest Chinese words, foot · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nightingale. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (everyone, words), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg640:48:129 # text = It was so learned, long, and so full of the hardest Chinese words that everyone said they had read it and understood it; for once they had been very stupid about a book, and had been trampled under foot in consequence. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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 learned learn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 6 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 9 so so ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 hardest hard ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 15 amod _ _ 14 Chinese Chinese ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 16 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 18 obj _ _ 17 everyone everyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 18 nsubj _ _ 18 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 acl:relcl _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 read read VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 18 ccomp _ _ 22 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 obj _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 understood understand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 25 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT : _ 33 punct _ _ 27 for for SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 28 once once SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 30 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 31 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 33 cop _ _ 32 very very ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 stupid stupid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 34 about about ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 book book NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 40 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 trampled trample VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 42 under under ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 44 in in ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 consequence consequence NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **learn** | past · passive | | work | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | everyone | the hardest Chinese words | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **read** | past · perfect | words *= word* | work | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | | 4 | **understand** | past | words *= word* *not said here* | work | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 5 | **is** | past · perfect | words *= word* | | | | | about a book; stupid *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **trample** | past · perfect · passive | | | | foot | | in consequence | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/48/128/) - next →: [sentence 130](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/48/130/) - ↑ back to [The Nightingale](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/48/)