---
title: There was no denying it was ugly, even the mother was forced to admi… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was no denying it was ugly, even the mother was forced to admit that to herself, though she only said it was 'large' and 'strong.' ' Who acts: blast, mother, duck. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 8, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was no denying it was ugly, even the mother was forced to admit that to herself, though she only said it was 'large' and 'strong.' '

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** blast, mother, duck · **What happens:** be, deny, force, admit, say · **To what, where:** mother, that, duck · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (blast, mother, duck), 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:pg3027:8:90
# text = There was no denying it was ugly, even the mother was forced to admit that to herself, though she only said it was 'large' and 'strong.' '
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	denying	deny	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	even	even	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	admit	admit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
34	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **deny** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | blast |  |  |  |  | ugly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **force** | past · passive |  | the mother |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **admit** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the mother *not said here* | that | duck |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent that=Topic to herself=Recipient |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | duck |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | past | blast |  |  |  |  | large *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  | blast *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:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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