---
title: ‘I thought at first,’ said Sylvia, ‘that she must be the happiest Pr… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I thought at first,’ said Sylvia, ‘that she must be the happiest Princess in the world; she had a thousand lovers who vied with one another in their efforts to please and gratify her. Who acts: I, Sylvia, thousand lovers. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Fairy Gifts, with its de
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Fairy Gifts, sentence 33

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‘I thought at first,’ said Sylvia, ‘that she must be the happiest Princess in the world; she had a thousand lovers who vied with one another in their efforts to please and gratify her.

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**Who acts:** I, Sylvia, thousand lovers · **What happens:** think, say, be, have, vie, please · **To what, where:** happiest Princess, world, thousand lovers, one, efforts, Sylvia · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Fairy Gifts. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Sylvia, thousand lovers), 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:pg7277:10:33
# text = ‘I thought at first,’ said Sylvia, ‘that she must be the happiest Princess in the world; she had a thousand lovers who vied with one another in their efforts to please and gratify her.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
9	Sylvia	Sylvia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	happiest	happy	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	amod	_	_
18	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	lovers	lover	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	vied	vie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	obj	_	_
32	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	fixed	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	gratify	gratify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
40	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Sylvia |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | must | Sylvia | the happiest Princess |  | the world |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | Sylvia | a thousand lovers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lover=Patient |
| 5 | **vie** | past | a thousand lovers | one |  | lovers's efforts |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **please** | to-infinitive | a thousand lovers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **gratify** | infinitive | a thousand lovers *not said here* | Sylvia |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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