---
title: The reason, no doubt, is that men were much like children in their m… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The reason, no doubt, is that men were much like children in their minds long ago, long, long ago, and so before they took to writing newspapers, and sermons, and novels, and long poems, they told each other stories, such as you read in the fairy books. Who acts: men, you. A sentence of «The Green F
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The reason, no doubt, is that men were much like children in their minds long ago, long, long ago, and so before they took to writing newspapers, and sermons, and novels, and long poems, they told each other stories, such as you read in the fairy books.

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**Who acts:** men, you · **What happens:** be, take, tell, read, mind · **To what, where:** minds, sermons, long poems, other stories, fairy books · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (men, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:1:9
# text = The reason, no doubt, is that men were much like children in their minds long ago, long, long ago, and so before they took to writing newspapers, and sermons, and novels, and long poems, they told each other stories, such as you read in the fairy books.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	much	much	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	_
18	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
23	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
27	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	newspapers	newspaper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	sermons	sermon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	novels	novel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	poems	poem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
46	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	48	det	_	_
47	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
50	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	53	case	_	_
51	as	as	ADP	IN	_	50	fixed	_	_
52	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	read	read	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	acl:relcl	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	_
57	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | men |  |  | men's minds |  | like children | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past | men *= man* | sermons |  |  |  | to writing newspapers *result*; novels *obl* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to newspaper=Result |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | men *= man* | long poems |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |
| 4 | **read** | present | you | each other stories *not said here* |  | the fairy books |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Topic |
| 5 | **mind** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 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.

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