---
title: Then as a last resource she exerted all her wit and gaiety to amuse… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then as a last resource she exerted all her wit and gaiety to amuse him, but with no better success, for he was of an age to be more attracted by beauty than by anything else, and though he responded politely enough, it was evident that his thoughts were elsewhere. Who acts: Princess, Featherhead, b
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then as a last resource she exerted all her wit and gaiety to amuse him, but with no better success, for he was of an age to be more attracted by beauty than by anything else, and though he responded politely enough, it was evident that his thoughts were elsewhere.

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**Who acts:** Princess, Featherhead, beauty, wit, thoughts · **What happens:** exert, amuse, be, attract, respond, think · **To what, where:** wit, Featherhead

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Princess, Featherhead, beauty, wit), 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:pg7277:12:54
# text = Then as a last resource she exerted all her wit and gaiety to amuse him, but with no better success, for he was of an age to be more attracted by beauty than by anything else, and though he responded politely enough, it was evident that his thoughts were elsewhere.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	resource	resource	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	exerted	exert	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	wit	wit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	gaiety	gaiety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	amuse	amuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
20	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	amod	_	_
21	success	success	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
31	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
32	attracted	attract	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	beauty	beauty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
35	than	than	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	34	nmod	_	_
38	else	else	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	responded	respond	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
44	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
49	evident	evident	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
53	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	RB	_	49	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **exert** | past | Princess | Princess's wit and gaiety |  |  | then | as a last resource; with no better success | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wit=Theme |
| 2 | **amuse** | to-infinitive | Princess *not said here* | Featherhead |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | Featherhead |  |  |  | for a age |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **attract** | to-infinitive · passive | beauty than anything |  |  |  |  |  | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **respond** *speech: other* | past | Featherhead |  |  |  |  | enough, politely *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | wit |  |  |  |  | evident *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | past | Featherhead's thoughts |  |  |  |  | elsewhere *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **think** |  | Featherhead |  |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=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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