---
title: King Kojata at once tried to seize the vessel, but though he endeavo… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: King Kojata at once tried to seize the vessel, but though he endeavoured to grasp it with his right hand, and then with his left, the wretched thing always eluded his efforts and refused to let itself be caught. Who acts: King, wretched thing, thing. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 2, sentence 15

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King Kojata at once tried to seize the vessel, but though he endeavoured to grasp it with his right hand, and then with his left, the wretched thing always eluded his efforts and refused to let itself be caught.

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**Who acts:** King, wretched thing, thing · **What happens:** try, seize, endeavour, grasp, elude, refuse · **To what, where:** vessel, efforts, thing

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, wretched thing, thing), 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:pg7277:27:15
# text = King Kojata at once tried to seize the vessel, but though he endeavoured to grasp it with his right hand, and then with his left, the wretched thing always eluded his efforts and refused to let itself be caught.
1	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	Kojata	Kojata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
5	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	endeavoured	endeavour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	grasp	grasp	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	left	left	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	wretched	wretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	33	advmod	_	_
33	eluded	elude	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	39	obj	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	aux:pass	_	_
42	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **seize** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | King *not said here* | the vessel |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vessel=Theme |
| 3 | **endeavour** | past | KING |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **grasp** | to-infinitive | KING *not said here* | vessel |  |  |  | with KING's right hand | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Theme with hand=Instrument |
| 5 | **elude** | past | the wretched thing | KING's efforts |  |  | then | with KING's left; always *property* | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent effort=Location |
| 6 | **refuse** | past | KING *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **let** | to-infinitive | KING *not said here* | thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **catch** | infinitive · passive | thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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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