---
title: This was, in fact, the best time of day in which to approach him, fo… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This was, in fact, the best time of day in which to approach him, for just now he was pretty sure to be both affable and in good spirits, and for this reason the Grand Vizier Mansor always chose this hour in which to pay his daily visit. Who acts: This, Bagdad, Grand Vizier. A sentence of «The Green
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 5

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This was, in fact, the best time of day in which to approach him, for just now he was pretty sure to be both affable and in good spirits, and for this reason the Grand Vizier Mansor always chose this hour in which to pay his daily visit.

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**Who acts:** This, Bagdad, Grand Vizier · **What happens:** be, approach, choose, pay, visit · **To what, where:** fact, Bagdad, reason, daily visit

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, Bagdad, Grand Vizier), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:7:5
# text = This was, in fact, the best time of day in which to approach him, for just now he was pretty sure to be both affable and in good spirits, and for this reason the Grand Vizier Mansor always chose this hour in which to pay his daily visit.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	approach	approach	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
19	just	just	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc:preconj	_	_
28	affable	affable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	det	_	_
37	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	parataxis	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	Grand	Grand	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	Vizier	Vizier	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
41	Mansor	Mansor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	flat	_	_
42	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	43	advmod	_	_
43	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
44	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	45	det	_	_
45	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	obl	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	acl:relcl	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
51	daily	daily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	visit	visit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | This |  |  | fact |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **approach** | to-infinitive |  | Bagdad |  | fact | time |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | Bagdad |  |  |  | now | pretty, sure *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** | to-infinitive | Bagdad *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **be** |  | Bagdad *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **choose** | past | the Grand Vizier | this reason *not said here* |  |  | hour | always *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Theme |
| 7 | **pay** | to-infinitive | the Grand Vizier *not said here* | Bagdad's daily visit |  |  | in this hour |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent visit=Asset |
| 8 | **visit** |  | Bagdad |  |  |  |  |  | nom visit «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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