---
title: ‘But whatever they found for me to do it was always the same thing,… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘But whatever they found for me to do it was always the same thing, I spoilt and mismanaged it all, and was so successful in provoking even the most patient people, that one day I ran away from the farm, for I was really afraid the Queen would be obliged to beat me. Who acts: sheep, me, flock, I. A 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 3, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘But whatever they found for me to do it was always the same thing, I spoilt and mismanaged it all, and was so successful in provoking even the most patient people, that one day I ran away from the farm, for I was really afraid the Queen would be obliged to beat me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sheep, me, flock, I · **What happens:** find, do, be, spoilt, mismanage, provoke · **To what, where:** whatever, same thing, flock, patient people, one day, Queen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (sheep, me, flock, I), 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:pg7277:38:37
# text = ‘But whatever they found for me to do it was always the same thing, I spoilt and mismanaged it all, and was so successful in provoking even the most patient people, that one day I ran away from the farm, for I was really afraid the Queen would be obliged to beat me.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	obj	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	spoilt	spoilt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	mismanaged	mismanage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	successful	successful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
28	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	provoking	provoke	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
30	even	even	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	33	advmod	_	_
33	patient	patient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	det	_	_
37	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
39	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	away	away	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
42	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	farm	farm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	really	really	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
53	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	aux:pass	_	_
55	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	ccomp	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | sheep | whatever |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent whatever=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | me |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | flock | the same thing |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spoilt** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **mismanage** | past | I *not said here* | flock |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | successful *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **provoke** | gerund |  | the patient people |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **run away** | past | I | that one day *not said here* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme day=Trajectory |
| 9 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **oblige** | would · passive |  | the Queen |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 11 | **beat** | to-infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location i=Theme |

<!-- .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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