---
title: But I ended by ceasing to covet that gift more than any of the other… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But I ended by ceasing to covet that gift more than any of the others I have seen, for, like the gift of pleasing, it cannot really give satisfaction. Who acts: I, gift. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Fairy Gifts, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Fairy Gifts, sentence 44

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But I ended by ceasing to covet that gift more than any of the others I have seen, for, like the gift of pleasing, it cannot really give satisfaction.

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**Who acts:** I, gift · **What happens:** end, cease, covet, see, not give · **To what, where:** gift, others, satisfaction

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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, gift), 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:pg7277:10:44
# text = But I ended by ceasing to covet that gift more than any of the others I have seen, for, like the gift of pleasing, it cannot really give satisfaction.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	ceasing	cease	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	covet	covet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	pleasing	pleasing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
29	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
31	really	really	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
33	satisfaction	satisfaction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **cease** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the gift of pleasing | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **covet** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | that gift |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot gift=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | present · perfect | I | the others *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer other=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **give** | can | gift | satisfaction |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent satisfaction=Theme |

<!-- .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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