--- title: ‘Oh, nothing,’ said he, ‘I was just amusing myself with counting the… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Oh, nothing,’ said he, ‘I was just amusing myself with counting the packs of wolves in the forest, but there are really so many of them that I don’t think I should ever be done.’ Who acts: prince, I, many. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, part 2, with its d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/10/68/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Grateful Prince, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/10/) / 68 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Grateful Prince, part 2, sentence 68 ‘Oh, nothing,’ said he, ‘I was just amusing myself with counting the packs of wolves in the forest, but there are really so many of them that I don’t think I should ever be done.’ **Who acts:** prince, I, many · **What happens:** say, be, count, not think, do · **To what, where:** packs, I · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, 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 (prince, I, many), 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:pg641:10:68 # text = ‘Oh, nothing,’ said he, ‘I was just amusing myself with counting the packs of wolves in the forest, but there are really so many of them that I don’t think I should ever be done.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Oh oh INTJ UH _ 7 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 4 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 2 vocative _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 7 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 just just ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 amusing amusing ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 ccomp _ _ 15 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 14 obl:unmarked _ _ 16 with with SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 17 counting count VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 packs pack NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 wolves wolf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nmod _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 26 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 27 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 28 expl _ _ 28 are be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 29 really really ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 30 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 nsubj _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nmod _ _ 34 that that SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 35 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 37 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 38 advmod _ _ 38 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 39 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 40 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 41 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 43 advmod _ _ 42 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 38 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | prince | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | past | I | | | | | myself *obl:unmarked*; amusing *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **count** | gerund | I *not said here* | the packs of wolves in the forest | | | | | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pack=Theme | | 4 | **be** | present | many of wolves | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 6 | **do** | should · passive | | I | | | ever | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/10/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/10/69/) - ↑ back to [The Grateful Prince, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/10/)