--- title: Helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad t… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad tale of woe to the Fairy, and told her what the new task she had been given to do was, and how she despaired of ever accomplishing it. Who acts: Helena, woe. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 3, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/28/120/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/28/) / 120 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 3, sentence 120 Helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad tale of woe to the Fairy, and told her what the new task she had been given to do was, and how she despaired of ever accomplishing it. **Who acts:** Helena, woe · **What happens:** hear, confide, tell, give, do, despair · **To what, where:** friendly voice, sad tale, Fairy, HELENA, task · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Helena, woe), 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:pg7277:28:120 # text = Helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad tale of woe to the Fairy, and told her what the new task she had been given to do was, and how she despaired of ever accomplishing it. 1 Helena Helena PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 3 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 4 for for ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 7 obl _ _ 6 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 1 acl:relcl _ _ 8 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 10 det _ _ 9 friendly friendly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 12 confided confide VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 14 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 woe woe NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ _ 18 to to ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 Fairy fairy NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 24 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 iobj _ _ 25 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 23 obj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 new new ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 29 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 32 aux:pass _ _ 32 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 28 acl:relcl _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 xcomp _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 38 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 40 advmod _ _ 39 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 despaired despair VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 41 of of SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 42 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 43 advmod _ _ 43 accomplishing accomplish VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 advcl _ _ 44 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past · perfect | Helena | no friendly voice | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | | 2 | **confide** *speech: other* | past | Helena | HELENA's sad tale of woe | the Fairy | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Topic to fairy=Recipient | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | | HELENA | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient what=Topic | | 4 | **give** | past · perfect · passive | | HELENA | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **despair** | past | HELENA | | | | | | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **accomplish** | gerund | HELENA *not said here* | task | | | ever | | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality | | 8 | **tell** | | woe | | | | | | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/28/119/) - next →: [sentence 121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/28/121/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/28/)