--- title: Look on which side he would, nothing but ruin seemed to lie before h… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Look on which side he would, nothing but ruin seemed to lie before him, and he became so gloomy, that his daughters were frightened, and did everything they could think of to cheer him up, but all to no purpose. Who acts: you, nothing, emperor, daughters. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/8/) [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 Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/) / 8 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, sentence 8 Look on which side he would, nothing but ruin seemed to lie before him, and he became so gloomy, that his daughters were frightened, and did everything they could think of to cheer him up, but all to no purpose. **Who acts:** you, nothing, emperor, daughters · **What happens:** look, seem, lie, become, frighten, do · **To what, where:** daughters, everything, emperor · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, nothing, emperor, daughters), 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:pg641:38:8 # text = Look on which side he would, nothing but ruin seemed to lie before him, and he became so gloomy, that his daughters were frightened, and did everything they could think of to cheer him up, but all to no purpose. 1 Look look VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 on on ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 which which DET WDT PronType=Int 4 det _ _ 4 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 8 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 11 nsubj _ _ 9 but but CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 ruin ruin NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ _ 11 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 lie lie VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 14 before before ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 20 so so ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 21 gloomy gloomy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 23 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 24 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 daughters daughter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 26 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 frightened frighten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 31 everything everything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 30 obj _ _ 32 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 acl:relcl _ _ 35 of of SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 cheer cheer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 ccomp _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 up up ADP RP _ 37 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 but but CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 42 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 45 det _ _ 43 to to ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 45 det _ _ 45 purpose purpose NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **look** | imperative | you *not said here* | | | | | to all purpose; on which side | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on side=Theme | | 2 | **seem** | past | nothing | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 3 | **lie** | to-infinitive | nothing *not said here* | | | | before emperor | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location | | 4 | **become** | past | emperor | | | | | gloomy *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **frighten** | past · passive | | emperor's daughters | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | | 6 | **do** | past | nothing *not said here* | everything | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent everything=Eventuality | | 7 | **think** *speech: other* | could | daughters *= daughter* | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 8 | **cheer up** | to-infinitive | | emperor | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/9/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/)