---
title: But when he had satisfied his thirst, and wished to raise himself up… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when he had satisfied his thirst, and wished to raise himself up, he couldn’t lift his head, because someone held his beard fast in the water. Who acts: thirst, someone. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 2, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when he had satisfied his thirst, and wished to raise himself up, he couldn’t lift his head, because someone held his beard fast in the water.

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**Who acts:** thirst, someone · **What happens:** satisfy, wish, raise up, not lift, hold, thirst · **To what, where:** thirst, head, beard, water

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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 (thirst, someone), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:27:19
# text = But when he had satisfied his thirst, and wished to raise himself up, he couldn’t lift his head, because someone held his beard fast in the water.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	satisfied	satisfy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	thirst	thirst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	raise	raise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	lift	lift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	nsubj	_	_
25	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **satisfy** | past · perfect | thirst | thirst's thirst |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus thirst=Experiencer |
| 2 | **wish** | past | thirst *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **raise up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | thirst *not said here* | thirst |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **lift** | could | thirst | thirst's head |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 5 | **hold** | past | someone | thirst's beard |  | the water |  | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent beard=Theme in water=Location |
| 6 | **thirst** |  | thirst |  |  |  |  |  | nom thirst «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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