---
title: Once he had been imprisoned in a tree, and was only released when it… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once he had been imprisoned in a tree, and was only released when it was blown down by a furious wind; another time he was condemned to stay under a big stone at the bottom of a river, until by some chance the stone should be turned over; but nothing could ever really improve him. Who acts: furious 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once he had been imprisoned in a tree, and was only released when it was blown down by a furious wind; another time he was condemned to stay under a big stone at the bottom of a river, until by some chance the stone should be turned over; but nothing could ever really improve him.

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**Who acts:** furious wind, chance, nothing · **What happens:** imprison, release, blow down, condemn, stay, turn over · **To what, where:** enchanter, tree, big stone, stone

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (furious wind, chance, nothing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:11:59
# text = Once he had been imprisoned in a tree, and was only released when it was blown down by a furious wind; another time he was condemned to stay under a big stone at the bottom of a river, until by some chance the stone should be turned over; but nothing could ever really improve him.
1	Once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	imprisoned	imprison	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	advcl	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	released	release	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	blown	blow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
18	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	furious	furious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
24	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	det	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl:unmarked	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	condemned	condemn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	under	under	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
42	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
43	by	by	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	45	det	_	_
45	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	aux:pass	_	_
50	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
51	over	over	ADP	RP	_	50	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
53	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
54	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	58	nsubj	_	_
55	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
56	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	58	advmod	_	_
57	really	really	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	improve	improve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
59	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	58	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imprison** | past · perfect · passive |  | enchanter |  | a tree |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in tree=Destination |
| 2 | **release** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING» |
| 3 | **blow down** | past · passive | a furious wind | tree |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 4 | **condemn** | past · passive |  | enchanter |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | a big stone |  | at the bottom of a river | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under stone=Location |
| 6 | **turn over** | should · passive | some chance | the stone |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 7 | **improve** | could | nothing | enchanter |  |  | ever |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

<!-- .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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