---
title: At last, towards the end of the meal, having sought in vain for some… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last, towards the end of the meal, having sought in vain for some cunning dodge to get the goat away from Mr. Simon, one of them said to him, ‘My worthy host, you must sell your goat to us.’ Who acts: one, worthy host. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 1, wi
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 66

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At last, towards the end of the meal, having sought in vain for some cunning dodge to get the goat away from Mr. Simon, one of them said to him, ‘My worthy host, you must sell your goat to us.’

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**Who acts:** one, worthy host · **What happens:** seek, get, say, sell · **To what, where:** last, goat, Simon, us · **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 (one, worthy host), 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:pg7277:26:66
# text = At last, towards the end of the meal, having sought in vain for some cunning dodge to get the goat away from Mr. Simon, one of them said to him, ‘My worthy host, you must sell your goat to us.’
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	aux	_	_
12	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	obl	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
17	cunning	cunning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	dodge	dodge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod:desc	_	_
26	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
35	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
40	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
43	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | gerund · perfect |  |  |  | last |  | in vain; for some cunning dodge | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent at last=Location for dodge=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive |  | the goat |  |  |  | away *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer goat=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | one of goats |  | Simon |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 4 | **sell** | must | My worthy host | your goat | us |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent goat=Theme to we=Recipient |

<!-- .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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