---
title: So they passed the day, talking now of the beauty of the Prince, now… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So they passed the day, talking now of the beauty of the Prince, now of the father of the Princess, and then of the misfortune that had happened. Who acts: birds, misfortune. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Snake, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Enchanted Snake, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they passed the day, talking now of the beauty of the Prince, now of the father of the Princess, and then of the misfortune that had happened.

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**Who acts:** birds, misfortune · **What happens:** pass, talk, happen

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, misfortune), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:25:55
# text = So they passed the day, talking now of the beauty of the Prince, now of the father of the Princess, and then of the misfortune that had happened.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	beauty	beauty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  | day | of the misfortune | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme of misfortune=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **talk** | gerund | birds *= bird* *not said here* |  |  |  | now |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **happen** | past · perfect | the misfortune |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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