---
title: He wished to speak to them, but soon discovered that they spoke an u… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He wished to speak to them, but soon discovered that they spoke an utterly unknown language, and did not seem to understand a word he said. Who acts: Prince, gates. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 1, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 1, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wished to speak to them, but soon discovered that they spoke an utterly unknown language, and did not seem to understand a word he said.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Prince, gates · **What happens:** wish, speak, discover, not seem, understand, say · **To what, where:** gates, unknown language, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, 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 (Prince, gates), 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:pg7277:36:73
# text = He wished to speak to them, but soon discovered that they spoke an utterly unknown language, and did not seem to understand a word he said.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
10	discovered	discover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	utterly	utterly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	seem	seem	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | past | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  | gates *= gate* |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to they=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **discover** | past |  |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | gates *= gate* | a unknown language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **seem** | past · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **understand** | to-infinitive |  | a word |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Prince | a word *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

<!-- .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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