--- title: After much discussion, it appeared that the choice lay between two f… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: After much discussion, it appeared that the choice lay between two fairies, one called Surcantine and the other Paridamie; and their claims were so equal that it was impossible without injustice to prefer one to the other. Who acts: it, choice, two fairies, claims. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Boo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/8/99/) [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 Enchanted Watch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/8/) / 99 # The Green Fairy Book, The Enchanted Watch, sentence 99 After much discussion, it appeared that the choice lay between two fairies, one called Surcantine and the other Paridamie; and their claims were so equal that it was impossible without injustice to prefer one to the other. **Who acts:** it, choice, two fairies, claims, fairies · **What happens:** appear, lie, call, be, prefer, claim · **To what, where:** one · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Watch. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, choice, two fairies, claims), 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:pg7277:8:99 # text = After much discussion, it appeared that the choice lay between two fairies, one called Surcantine and the other Paridamie; and their claims were so equal that it was impossible without injustice to prefer one to the other. 1 After after ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 discussion discussion NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 appeared appear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 choice choice NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 10 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 11 between between ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 nummod _ _ 13 fairies fairy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 16 nsubj:pass _ _ 16 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 acl _ _ 17 Surcantine Surcantine PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 xcomp _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 Paridamie Paridamie PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 24 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 claims claim NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 nsubj _ _ 26 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 cop _ _ 27 so so ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 equal equal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 expl _ _ 31 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 32 impossible impossible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 advcl _ _ 33 without without ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 injustice injustice NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 prefer prefer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 advcl _ _ 37 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 36 obj _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **appear** | past | it | | | | after much discussion | without injustice | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **lie** | past | the choice | | | | | between two fairies | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent between fairy=Location | | 3 | **call** | participle · passive | two fairies *not said here* | one | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 4 | **is** | past | fairies's claims | | | | | equal *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | fairies's claims *not said here* | | | | | impossible *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **prefer** | to-infinitive | | one | | | | to the other | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus | | 7 | **claim** | | fairies *= fairy* | | | | | | nom claim «communication transitive»: 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 98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/8/98/) - next →: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/8/100/) - ↑ back to [The Enchanted Watch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/8/)