---
title: But there happened to be among them a Fairy from a far country about… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But there happened to be among them a Fairy from a far country about whom they knew nothing, though her name had been written on the first page of the list. Who acts: Fairies, most. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 1, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But there happened to be among them a Fairy from a far country about whom they knew nothing, though her name had been written on the first page of the list.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Fairies, most · **What happens:** happen, be, know, write, name, page · **To what, where:** Fairy, far country, nothing, name, first page, list

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fairies, most), 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:pg7277:14:8
# text = But there happened to be among them a Fairy from a far country about whom they knew nothing, though her name had been written on the first page of the list.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	among	among	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
14	about	about	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	29	amod	_	_
29	page	page	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past |  | a Fairy |  | a far country; there |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | among Fairies *= fairy* | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | past | Fairies *= fairy* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **write** | past · perfect · passive |  | most's name |  | the first page of the list |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on page=Destination |
| 5 | **name** |  | most |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **page** |  |  | the list |  |  |  |  | nom page «communication transitive»: of=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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