---
title: At last Simon gave way to the request and persuasive eloquence of hi… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last Simon gave way to the request and persuasive eloquence of his housekeeper, and betook himself one day to the market where he had seen a mule, which he thought would just suit him, and which he bought for seven gold pieces. Who acts: Simon, mule. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At last Simon gave way to the request and persuasive eloquence of his housekeeper, and betook himself one day to the market where he had seen a mule, which he thought would just suit him, and which he bought for seven gold pieces.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Simon, mule · **What happens:** give, betake, see, think, suit, buy · **To what, where:** way, request, last Simon, Simon, mule · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, 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 (Simon, mule), 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:pg7277:26:4
# text = At last Simon gave way to the request and persuasive eloquence of his housekeeper, and betook himself one day to the market where he had seen a mule, which he thought would just suit him, and which he bought for seven gold pieces.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	persuasive	persuasive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	eloquence	eloquence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	housekeeper	housekeeper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	betook	betake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
24	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	27	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	just	just	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	suit	suit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	46	nummod	_	_
45	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past |  | way | the request and persuasive eloquence of Simon's housekeeper | last Simon |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.asset»: agent=Agent way=Theme at simon=Asset to request=Recipient |
| 2 | **betake** | past |  | Simon |  |  | day | to the market | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past · perfect | Simon | a mule |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mule=Stimulus |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | a mule |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **suit** | would |  | Simon |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **buy** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for seven gold pieces | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for piece=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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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