---
title: It is true you didn’t succeed in catching the bird; but don’t let th… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is true you didn’t succeed in catching the bird; but don’t let that discourage you, for this time you will be all the more careful, and will doubtless catch the horse.’ Who acts: friend, you, that. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Mermaid, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Golden Mermaid, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is true you didn’t succeed in catching the bird; but don’t let that discourage you, for this time you will be all the more careful, and will doubtless catch the horse.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** friend, you, that · **What happens:** be, not succeed, catch, not let, discourage · **To what, where:** bird, that, you, horse

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Mermaid. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friend, you, that), 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:pg7277:52:40
# text = It is true you didn’t succeed in catching the bird; but don’t let that discourage you, for this time you will be all the more careful, and will doubtless catch the horse.’
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	succeed	succeed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	obj	_	_
18	discourage	discourage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	30	advmod	_	_
30	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	doubtless	doubtless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
35	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | friend |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **succeed** | past · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **catch** | gerund | you *not said here* | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **let** | infinitive · do-support |  | that |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **discourage** | infinitive | that *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | future | you |  |  |  | time | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** | future | friend *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **catch** | infinitive | friend *not said here* | the horse |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=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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