--- title: There are not many people now, perhaps there are none, who can write… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: There are not many people now, perhaps there are none, who can write really good fairy tales, because they do not believe enough in their own stories, and because they want to be wittier than it has pleased Heaven to make them. Who acts: many people, none, tales, Caylus. A sentence of «The Green Fai --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/1/28/) [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 Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/1/) / 28 # The Green Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, sentence 28 There are not many people now, perhaps there are none, who can write really good fairy tales, because they do not believe enough in their own stories, and because they want to be wittier than it has pleased Heaven to make them. **Who acts:** many people, none, tales, Caylus, pleased Heaven · **What happens:** be, write, not believe, want, have, make · **To what, where:** good fairy tales, enough, own stories, pleased Heaven, tales This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Green Fairy Book. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many people, none, tales, Caylus), 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:pg7277:1:28 # text = There are not many people now, perhaps there are none, who can write really good fairy tales, because they do not believe enough in their own stories, and because they want to be wittier than it has pleased Heaven to make them. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 are be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 nsubj _ _ 6 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 perhaps perhaps ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 9 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 10 expl _ _ 10 are be VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 11 none none PRON NN PronType=Neg 10 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 15 nsubj _ _ 14 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 write write VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 parataxis _ _ 16 really really ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 18 fairy fairy NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 compound _ _ 19 tales tale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 because because SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 22 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 23 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 24 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 25 advmod _ _ 25 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 conj _ _ 26 enough enough ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 obj _ _ 27 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 29 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 stories story NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 33 because because SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 wittier witty ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 26 conj _ _ 39 than than SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 has have VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ _ 42 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 Heaven Heaven PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ _ 46 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **does** | present | many people | | | there | now | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **be** | present | none | | | there | | perhaps *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **write** | can | | good fairy tales | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Theme | | 4 | **not** **believe** | present · do-support | tales *= tale* | enough | | tales's own stories | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer enough=Stimulus | | 5 | **want** | present | tales *= tale* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | | 6 | **is** | to-infinitive | tales *= tale* *not said here* | | | | | witty *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **have** | present | Caylus | pleased Heaven | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **make** | to-infinitive | pleased Heaven *not said here* | tales *= tale* | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product | 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/1/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/1/29/) - ↑ back to [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/1/)