---
title: It was easy enough now for the servant to prove his innocence, and t… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was easy enough now for the servant to prove his innocence, and the King, feeling he had done him an injustice, and anxious to make some amends, desired him to ask any favour he chose, and promised to give him the highest post at Court he could wish for. Who acts: servant, King, haste. A sentence
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The White Snake, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was easy enough now for the servant to prove his innocence, and the King, feeling he had done him an injustice, and anxious to make some amends, desired him to ask any favour he chose, and promised to give him the highest post at Court he could wish for.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** servant, King, haste · **What happens:** be, prove, feel, do, make, desire · **To what, where:** innocence, King, amends, haste, favour, highest post

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servant, King, haste), 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:pg7277:50:22
# text = It was easy enough now for the servant to prove his innocence, and the King, feeling he had done him an injustice, and anxious to make some amends, desired him to ask any favour he chose, and promised to give him the highest post at Court he could wish for.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	csubj	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	innocence	innocence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	injustice	injustice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
30	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	det	_	_
31	amends	amend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
37	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	38	det	_	_
38	favour	favour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	iobj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	49	amod	_	_
49	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
50	at	at	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	Court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	acl:relcl	_	_
55	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | now | easy, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **prove** | to-infinitive | the servant | haste's innocence |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent innocence=Theme |
| 3 | **feel** | gerund | the King *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **do** | past · perfect | haste | King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | the King |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | the King *not said here* | some amends |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset amend=Product |
| 7 | **desire** | past |  | haste |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot he=Theme |
| 8 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  | any favour |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent favour=Recipient |
| 9 | **choose** | past | haste | any favour *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent favour=Theme |
| 10 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **give** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | the highest post | haste | Court |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Recipient post=Theme at court=Asset |
| 12 | **wish** | could | haste | the highest post *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot post=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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