---
title: They had so much to say that they hardly knew where to begin, but th… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They had so much to say that they hardly knew where to begin, but they agreed in blaming themselves bitterly for the negligence which had caused all their trouble; and when she heard this the Fairy immediately appeared to them. Who acts: Sylvain, negligence, Fairy. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Boo
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Sylvain and Jocosa, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had so much to say that they hardly knew where to begin, but they agreed in blaming themselves bitterly for the negligence which had caused all their trouble; and when she heard this the Fairy immediately appeared to them.

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**Who acts:** Sylvain, negligence, Fairy · **What happens:** have, say, know, begin, agree, blame · **To what, where:** much, Sylvain, trouble, this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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, negligence, 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:pg7277:9:31
# text = They had so much to say that they hardly knew where to begin, but they agreed in blaming themselves bitterly for the negligence which had caused all their trouble; and when she heard this the Fairy immediately appeared to them.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	blaming	blame	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
20	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obj	_	_
21	bitterly	bitterly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	negligence	negligence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
34	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
36	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	obj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	Fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
39	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Sylvain | much |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** | past | Sylvain |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **begin** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | Sylvain |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **blame** | gerund | Sylvain *not said here* | Sylvain |  |  |  | for the negligence; bitterly *property* | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme for negligence=Attribute |
| 7 | **cause** | past · perfect | the negligence | Sylvain's trouble |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition trouble=Patient |
| 8 | **hear** | past | Fairy | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **appear** | past | Fairy *not said here* |  | Sylvain |  |  | immediately *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **trouble** |  | Sylvain |  |  |  |  |  | nom trouble «cognition 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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