---
title: By degrees I wearied of what had so delighted me at first, especiall… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: By degrees I wearied of what had so delighted me at first, especially as I perceived more and more plainly that it is impossible to be constantly smart and amusing without being frequently ill-natured, and too apt to turn all things, even the most serious, into mere occasions for a brilliant jest.’ 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Fairy Gifts, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By degrees I wearied of what had so delighted me at first, especially as I perceived more and more plainly that it is impossible to be constantly smart and amusing without being frequently ill-natured, and too apt to turn all things, even the most serious, into mere occasions for a brilliant jest.’

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**Who acts:** I, degrees · **What happens:** weary, have, perceive, be, turn · **To what, where:** degrees, delighted, things

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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, degrees), 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:pg7277:10:45
# text = By degrees I wearied of what had so delighted me at first, especially as I perceived more and more plainly that it is impossible to be constantly smart and amusing without being frequently ill-natured, and too apt to turn all things, even the most serious, into mere occasions for a brilliant jest.’
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	wearied	weary	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obl	_	_
7	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	perceived	perceive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	21	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	18	conj	_	_
21	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	expl	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	cop	_	_
28	constantly	constantly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	smart	smart	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	csubj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	amusing	amusing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
32	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	cop	_	_
34	frequently	frequently	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
35	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	natured	natured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	too	too	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	apt	apt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	turn	turn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	41	csubj	_	_
44	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	det	_	_
45	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	even	even	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	50	advmod	_	_
50	serious	serious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	into	into	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	mere	mere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	compound	_	_
54	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
55	for	for	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	brilliant	brilliant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	jest	jest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **weary** | past | I | degrees *not said here* |  |  |  | of degrees | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus degree=Experiencer |
| 2 | **have** | past | degrees | delighted |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent delighted=Patient |
| 3 | **perceive** | past | I |  |  |  |  | especially *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible, plainly *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | constantly, smart *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | frequently, natured *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **turn** | to-infinitive |  | all things |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent thing=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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