---
title: However, at last I persuaded them that to do nothing whatever would… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: However, at last I persuaded them that to do nothing whatever would be the only thing that would suit me, and that if they really wanted to be kind to me, they would let me go to bed and to sleep, and not tease me about doing anything. Who acts: I, whatever, only thing, King. A sentence of «The Gree
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 3, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
However, at last I persuaded them that to do nothing whatever would be the only thing that would suit me, and that if they really wanted to be kind to me, they would let me go to bed and to sleep, and not tease me about doing anything.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, whatever, only thing, King, me · **What happens:** persuade, do, be, suit, want, let · **To what, where:** King, last, nothing, only thing, me, bed

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, 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 (I, whatever, only thing, King), 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:pg7277:38:21
# text = However, at last I persuaded them that to do nothing whatever would be the only thing that would suit me, and that if they really wanted to be kind to me, they would let me go to bed and to sleep, and not tease me about doing anything.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	10	obj	_	_
12	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	acl:relcl	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	suit	suit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	really	really	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
31	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
38	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	48	advmod	_	_
48	tease	tease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
49	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	advcl	_	_
52	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persuade** | past | I | King |  | last |  | however *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is a** | would | whatever | the only thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **suit** | would | the only thing | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | King *not said here* |  | me |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **let** | would | King | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **go** | infinitive | me *not said here* |  |  | bed |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to bed=Initial\_Location |
| 9 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | me *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **not** **tease** | infinitive | King *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn bully-59.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 11 | **do** | gerund | King *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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