--- title: The youth sat down in the garden and wondered how it would be possib… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The youth sat down in the garden and wondered how it would be possible for him to accomplish such a task, but he could think of no expedient, and sat there sadly expecting to meet his death at daybreak. Who acts: youth, it. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Snake, with i --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/50/51/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/50/) / 51 # The Green Fairy Book, The White Snake, sentence 51 The youth sat down in the garden and wondered how it would be possible for him to accomplish such a task, but he could think of no expedient, and sat there sadly expecting to meet his death at daybreak. **Who acts:** youth, it · **What happens:** sit down, wonder, be, accomplish, think, sit · **To what, where:** garden, task, death, daybreak · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (youth, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:50:51 # text = The youth sat down in the garden and wondered how it would be possible for him to accomplish such a task, but he could think of no expedient, and sat there sadly expecting to meet his death at daybreak. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 youth youth NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 down down ADP RP _ 3 compound:prt _ _ 5 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 garden garden NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 wondered wonder VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 10 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 14 advmod _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 14 cop _ _ 14 possible possible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 ccomp _ _ 15 for for SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 accomplish accomplish VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 csubj _ _ 19 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 21 det:predet _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 advcl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 29 det _ _ 29 expedient expedient NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 33 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 32 advmod _ _ 34 sadly sadly ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 35 expecting expect VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 advcl _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 meet meet VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 xcomp _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 at at ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 daybreak daybreak NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit down** | past | the youth | | | the garden | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in garden=Location | | 2 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | the youth *not said here* | | | | | | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **is** | would | it | | | | | possible *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **accomplish** | to-infinitive | youth | such task | | | | | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Eventuality | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | could | youth | | | | | of no expedient | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **sit** | past | the youth *not said here* | | | there | | sadly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **expect** | gerund | the youth *not said here* | | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 8 | **meet** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the youth *not said here* | youth's death | | daybreak | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent death=Co-Agent | | 9 | **die** | | youth | | | | | | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/50/50/) - next →: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/50/52/) - ↑ back to [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/50/)