---
title: T was no bigger than a year-old baby, but it had long cotted hair an… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: T was no bigger than a year-old baby, but it had long cotted hair and beard, twisted round and round its body so that you couldn't see its clothes; and the hair was all yaller and shining and silky, like a bairn's; but the face of it was old and as if 't were hundreds of years since 't was young and
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 3, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
T was no bigger than a year-old baby, but it had long cotted hair and beard, twisted round and round its body so that you couldn't see its clothes; and the hair was all yaller and shining and silky, like a bairn's; but the face of it was old and as if 't were hundreds of years since 't was young and smooth.

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**Who acts:** T, you, hair, face · **What happens:** not be, cot, twist, not see, be, shine · **To what, where:** t, body, clothes

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (T, you, hair, face), 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:pg14241:17:56
# text = T was no bigger than a year-old baby, but it had long cotted hair and beard, twisted round and round its body so that you couldn't see its clothes; and the hair was all yaller and shining and silky, like a bairn's; but the face of it was old and as if 't were hundreds of years since 't was young and smooth.
1	T	t	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	no	no	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
16	cotted	cot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
17	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	twisted	twist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
22	round	round	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	round	round	ADV	RB	_	22	conj	_	_
25	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
27	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	32	mark	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	fixed	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	all	all	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	yaller	yall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	shining	shine	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	conj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	silky	silky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	like	like	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	bairn	bairn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	's	's	PART	POS	_	49	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
52	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nmod	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
58	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
60	as	as	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
61	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
62	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	63	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	t	t	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	compound	_	_
64	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
65	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	conj	_	_
66	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
67	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	nmod	_	_
68	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	72	mark	_	_
69	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	72	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	t	t	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	nsubj	_	_
71	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	72	cop	_	_
72	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	advcl	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	74	cc	_	_
74	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | T |  |  |  |  | than a old baby; like a bairn; big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cot** | past · perfect · passive |  | t |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **twist** | participle |  | t's body |  |  |  | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **see** | could | you | t's clothes |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer clothes=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | past | the hair |  |  |  |  | all, yall *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **shine** | gerund | the hair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **be** |  | the hair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | past | the face of t |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the face of t *not said here* |  |  |  | year | as t hundreds | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | past | t |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **be** |  | t *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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