---
title: All his subjects came to see him, and said whatever they thought wou… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: All his subjects came to see him, and said whatever they thought would comfort him: some were grave, even gloomy with him; and some agreeable, even gay; but not one could make the least impression upon him. Who acts: subjects, whatever, some, one. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang,
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Blue Bird, part 1, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All his subjects came to see him, and said whatever they thought would comfort him: some were grave, even gloomy with him; and some agreeable, even gay; but not one could make the least impression upon him.

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**Who acts:** subjects, whatever, some, one · **What happens:** come, see, say, think, comfort, be · **To what, where:** King, least impression · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Bird, 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 (subjects, whatever, some, one), 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:pg7277:2:5
# text = All his subjects came to see him, and said whatever they thought would comfort him: some were grave, even gloomy with him; and some agreeable, even gay; but not one could make the least impression upon him.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	comfort	comfort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	grave	grave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	even	even	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	gloomy	gloomy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	nsubj	_	_
29	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	even	even	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	gay	gay	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
36	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	41	amod	_	_
41	impression	impression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
42	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | King's subjects |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | King's subjects *not said here* | King |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | subjects *= subject* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **comfort** | would | whatever | King |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | some |  |  |  |  | grave *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** |  | some *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with King | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **make** | could | one | the least impression |  |  |  | upon King | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset impression=Product |

<!-- .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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