--- title: It seems that there is always one thing that is sure to be said abou… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It seems that there is always one thing that is sure to be said about an event by everybody, and Prince Mannikin found that the question which he was asked by more than a thousand people on this particular occasion was: Who acts: It, one thing, that, everybody. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/55/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [Heart of Ice, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/) / 55 # The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 4, sentence 55 It seems that there is always one thing that is sure to be said about an event by everybody, and Prince Mannikin found that the question which he was asked by more than a thousand people on this particular occasion was: **Who acts:** It, one thing, that, everybody, Prince, thousand people · **What happens:** be, say, find, ask · **To what, where:** question, particular occasion · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, one thing, that, everybody), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:17:55 # text = It seems that there is always one thing that is sure to be said about an event by everybody, and Prince Mannikin found that the question which he was asked by more than a thousand people on this particular occasion was: 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 seems seem VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 that that SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 4 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 5 expl _ _ 5 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 advcl _ _ 6 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 7 advmod _ _ 7 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 nummod _ _ 8 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 11 nsubj _ _ 10 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 11 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 nmod _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 14 aux:pass _ _ 14 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 ccomp _ _ 15 about about ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 event event NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 18 by by ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 14 obl:agent _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 22 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 23 Mannikin Mannikin PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 flat _ _ 24 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 25 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 28 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 nsubj:pass _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux:pass _ _ 31 asked ask VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 acl:relcl _ _ 32 by by ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 33 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV 36 advmod _ _ 34 than than ADP IN _ 33 fixed _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 37 nummod _ _ 37 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obl:agent _ _ 38 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 41 det _ _ 40 particular particular ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 occasion occasion NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 43 : : PUNCT : _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | It | | | | | seem *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | present | one thing | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **is** | present | that | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive · passive | everybody | | | | | about a event | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **find** | past | Prince | the question | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent question=Topic | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive | thousand people | the question | | this particular occasion | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/54/) - next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/56/) - ↑ back to [Heart of Ice, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/)