--- title: First with one hand, and then with two, did the King try to seize it… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: First with one hand, and then with two, did the King try to seize it, but like a fish the goblet always slipped through his fingers and bobbed to the ground only to reappear at some other place, and mock the King. Who acts: two, goblet. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/16/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Biter Bit, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/) / 16 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 2, sentence 16 First with one hand, and then with two, did the King try to seize it, but like a fish the goblet always slipped through his fingers and bobbed to the ground only to reappear at some other place, and mock the King. **Who acts:** two, goblet · **What happens:** do, seize, slip, bob, reappear, mock · **To what, where:** King try, try, fingers, ground, other place, King 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 (two, goblet), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:27:16 # text = First with one hand, and then with two, did the King try to seize it, but like a fish the goblet always slipped through his fingers and bobbed to the ground only to reappear at some other place, and mock the King. 1 First first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 4 advmod _ _ 2 with with ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 nummod _ _ 4 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 7 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 9 advmod _ _ 8 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 11 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 try try NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 seize seize VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 acl _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 20 like like ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 goblet goblet NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 25 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 26 advmod _ _ 26 slipped slip VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 27 through through ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 bobbed bob VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 conj _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 35 only only ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 reappear reappear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 38 at at ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 41 det _ _ 40 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 mock mock VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 conj _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | two | the King try | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent try=Eventuality | | 2 | **seize** | to-infinitive | two *not said here* | try | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 3 | **slip** | past | the goblet | | | KING's fingers | | like a fish; always *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 4 | **bob** | participle | the goblet *not said here* | | the ground | | | | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to ground=Recipient | | 5 | **reappear** | to-infinitive | the goblet *not said here* | | | some other place | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at place=Location | | 6 | **mock** | infinitive | the goblet *not said here* | the King | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/17/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/)