---
title: With these words he tried to slip back into his house, but the tailo… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: With these words he tried to slip back into his house, but the tailor laid hold of his coat-tails, and begged so hard to be allowed to stay that the old fellow, who was by no means as cross as he appeared, was at length touched by his entreaties, let him come in, and after giving him some food, show
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Crystal Coffin, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With these words he tried to slip back into his house, but the tailor laid hold of his coat-tails, and begged so hard to be allowed to stay that the old fellow, who was by no means as cross as he appeared, was at length touched by his entreaties, let him come in, and after giving him some food, showed him quite a nice bed in one corner of the room.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, tailor, old fellow · **What happens:** try, slip back, lay, beg, allow, stay · **To what, where:** house, hold, length, man, food, nice bed

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crystal Coffin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, tailor, old fellow), 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:pg7277:45:15
# text = With these words he tried to slip back into his house, but the tailor laid hold of his coat-tails, and begged so hard to be allowed to stay that the old fellow, who was by no means as cross as he appeared, was at length touched by his entreaties, let him come in, and after giving him some food, showed him quite a nice bed in one corner of the room.
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	slip	slip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tailor	tailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
17	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
20	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	allowed	allow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
40	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
41	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	42	nsubj	_	_
42	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	parataxis	_	_
43	as	as	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	cross	cross	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	obj	_	_
45	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	at	at	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	advcl	_	_
52	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	acl	_	_
53	by	by	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	entreaties	entreaty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
57	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
60	in	in	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	69	cc	_	_
63	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
64	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	69	advcl	_	_
65	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	iobj	_	_
66	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	67	det	_	_
67	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
69	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
70	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	iobj	_	_
71	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	74	det:predet	_	_
72	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
73	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	74	amod	_	_
74	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	_
75	in	in	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	77	nummod	_	_
77	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	_
78	of	of	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | man |  |  |  |  | with this words | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **slip back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  | man's house |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **lay** | past | the tailor | hold of man's coat tails |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Result |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **allow** | to-infinitive · passive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **stay** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | the old fellow |  |  |  |  | mean *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **appear** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | the old fellow |  |  | length |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **touch** | participle |  | length *not said here* |  |  |  | by man's entreaties | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **let** | infinitive | man *not said here* | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **come in** | infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 13 | **give** | gerund |  | some food | man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient food=Theme |
| 14 | **show** | past | man *not said here* | quite nice bed | man |  |  | in one corner of the room | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Patient in corner=Topic |
| 15 | **hold** |  |  | man's coat tails |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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