---
title: Twenty times did Sylvain throw himself into the turbulent waters, ho… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Twenty times did Sylvain throw himself into the turbulent waters, hoping to be able to swim to the other side, but each time an irresistible force drove him back upon the bank he had just quitted, while, as for Jocosa, she even essayed to cross the flood upon a tree which came floating down torn up 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Sylvain and Jocosa, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Twenty times did Sylvain throw himself into the turbulent waters, hoping to be able to swim to the other side, but each time an irresistible force drove him back upon the bank he had just quitted, while, as for Jocosa, she even essayed to cross the flood upon a tree which came floating down torn up by the roots, but her efforts were equally useless.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Sylvain, irresistible force, force, Fairy, tree, efforts · **What happens:** do, throw, hope, be, swim, drive back · **To what, where:** Jocosa, turbulent waters, other side, flood

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Sylvain and Jocosa. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sylvain, irresistible force, force, Fairy), 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:pg7277:9:25
# text = Twenty times did Sylvain throw himself into the turbulent waters, hoping to be able to swim to the other side, but each time an irresistible force drove him back upon the bank he had just quitted, while, as for Jocosa, she even essayed to cross the flood upon a tree which came floating down torn up by the roots, but her efforts were equally useless.
1	Twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Sylvain	Sylvain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	turbulent	turbulent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
15	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl:unmarked	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	irresistible	irresistible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
32	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	just	just	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	quitted	quitt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	while	while	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	as	as	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	Jocosa	Jocosa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	even	even	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	essayed	essay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
56	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
57	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	acl:relcl	_	_
58	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	57	xcomp	_	_
59	down	down	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
60	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	xcomp	_	_
61	up	up	ADP	RP	_	60	compound:prt	_	_
62	by	by	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
66	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
67	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	68	nmod:poss	_	_
68	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	71	nsubj	_	_
69	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	71	cop	_	_
70	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	71	advmod	_	_
71	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **throw** | infinitive | Sylvain | Jocosa |  |  |  | into the turbulent waters *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer himself=Theme into water=Result |
| 3 | **hope** | gerund | Sylvain *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Sylvain *not said here* |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **swim** | to-infinitive | Sylvain *not said here* |  |  | the other side |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to side=Destination |
| 6 | **drive back** | past | a irresistible force | Jocosa |  |  | time |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 7 | **quitt** | past · perfect | force |  |  |  |  | upon the bank; as Jocosa; while *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **essay** | past | Fairy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **cross** | to-infinitive | Fairy *not said here* | the flood |  |  |  | upon a tree | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flood=Patient |
| 10 | **come** | past | a tree |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **float** | gerund | a tree *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **tear up** | participle | a tree *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the roots; down *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by root=Trajectory |
| 13 | **is** | past | Fairy's efforts |  |  |  |  | equally, useless *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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