---
title: ‘I have told you this story, my dear Sylvain and Jocosa,’ added the… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I have told you this story, my dear Sylvain and Jocosa,’ added the Fairy, ‘to prove to you that this little cottage and all that belongs to it is a gift more likely to bring you happiness and contentment than many things that would at first seem grander and more desirable. Who acts: I, dear Sylvain
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Sylvain and Jocosa, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘I have told you this story, my dear Sylvain and Jocosa,’ added the Fairy, ‘to prove to you that this little cottage and all that belongs to it is a gift more likely to bring you happiness and contentment than many things that would at first seem grander and more desirable.

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**Who acts:** I, dear Sylvain, that, little cottage · **What happens:** tell, add, prove, belong, be, bring · **To what, where:** story, you, Fairy, cottage, gift, happiness · **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 (I, dear Sylvain, that, little cottage), 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:pg7277:9:65
# text = ‘I have told you this story, my dear Sylvain and Jocosa,’ added the Fairy, ‘to prove to you that this little cottage and all that belongs to it is a gift more likely to bring you happiness and contentment than many things that would at first seem grander and more desirable.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	Sylvain	Sylvain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	Jocosa	Jocosa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
16	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	prove	prove	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
26	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	32	det:predet	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
32	belongs	belong	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
35	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	xcomp	_	_
38	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	39	advmod	_	_
39	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	contentment	contentment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	_
46	than	than	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	_
49	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	obj	_	_
50	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
51	at	at	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	53	advmod	_	_
53	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	acl:relcl	_	_
54	grander	grand	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	53	xcomp	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	57	advmod	_	_
57	desirable	desirable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · perfect | I | this story | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient story=Topic |
| 2 | **add** *speech: assert* | past | my dear Sylvain and Jocosa | the Fairy |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fairy=Patient |
| 3 | **prove** | to-infinitive |  |  | you |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to you=Experiencer |
| 4 | **belong** | present | that |  | cottage |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | present | this little cottage | a gift |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **bring** | to-infinitive |  | happiness and contentment | you |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent you=Destination happiness=Theme |
| 7 | **seem** | would |  | many things |  |  |  | first, grand *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme that=Attribute |

<!-- .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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