---
title: Really, if Narcissus had not been there to whisper in her ear and di… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Really, if Narcissus had not been there to whisper in her ear and divert her attention, I don’t know what would have become of poor Potentilla, for though the first repetition of this absurdity amused her faintly, she nearly died of weariness before the time was over. Who acts: Narcissus, I, first r
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Really, if Narcissus had not been there to whisper in her ear and divert her attention, I don’t know what would have become of poor Potentilla, for though the first repetition of this absurdity amused her faintly, she nearly died of weariness before the time was over.

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**Who acts:** Narcissus, I, first repetition, Potentilla, time, absurdity · **What happens:** not be, whisper, divert, not know, become, amuse · **To what, where:** ear, attention, Potentilla · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Narcissus, I, first repetition, Potentilla), 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:pg7277:11:67
# text = Really, if Narcissus had not been there to whisper in her ear and divert her attention, I don’t know what would have become of poor Potentilla, for though the first repetition of this absurdity amused her faintly, she nearly died of weariness before the time was over.
1	Really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	Narcissus	Narcissus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
8	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	whisper	whisper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	divert	divert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	xcomp	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
26	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	ccomp	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	Potentilla	Potentilla	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
31	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
32	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	35	amod	_	_
35	repetition	repetition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	det	_	_
38	absurdity	absurdity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	amused	amuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
40	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	faintly	faintly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	weariness	weariness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
48	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
52	over	over	ADV	RB	_	45	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past · perfect | Narcissus |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Narcissus *not said here* |  |  | Potentilla's ear |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in ear=Location |
| 3 | **divert** | infinitive | Narcissus *not said here* | Potentilla's attention |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus attention=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **become** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | of poor Potentilla | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **amuse** | past | the first repetition of this absurdity | Potentilla |  |  |  | faintly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |
| 7 | **die** | past | Potentilla |  |  |  |  | of weariness; nearly *property* | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of weariness=Causer |
| 8 | **is** | past | the time |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **attend** |  | Potentilla |  |  |  |  |  | nom attention «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 10 | **repeat** |  | this absurdity |  |  |  |  |  | nom repetition «event intransitive»: of=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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