---
title: But alas! all that he caught were black and ordinary, though strange… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But alas! all that he caught were black and ordinary, though strange to say he never grew impatient, but always seemed ready to begin the tedious hunt again. Who acts: Prince, alas. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 4, with its dependen
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 4, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But alas! all that he caught were black and ordinary, though strange to say he never grew impatient, but always seemed ready to begin the tedious hunt again.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Prince, alas · **What happens:** catch, be, say, not grow, seem, begin · **To what, where:** alas, tedious hunt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, alas), 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:pg7277:39:14
# text = But alas! all that he caught were black and ordinary, though strange to say he never grew impatient, but always seemed ready to begin the tedious hunt again.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	alas	ala	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	7	det:predet	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	csubj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	impatient	impatient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	24	advmod	_	_
24	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
25	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	tedious	tedious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	hunt	hunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	again	again	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | Prince | alas *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ala=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | alas |  |  |  |  | black *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | alas *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | alas *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **grow** | past | Prince |  |  |  |  | impatient *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **seem** | past |  |  |  |  |  | always, ready *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 8 | **begin** | to-infinitive |  | the tedious hunt |  |  | again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hunt=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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