---
title: In an instant his head had swollen to several times its usual size,… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In an instant his head had swollen to several times its usual size, and his neck seemed very hot and heavy; and, somehow, his hands became paws, and his skin grew hairy and yellow. Who acts: neck, hands, skin. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18, with i
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In an instant his head had swollen to several times its usual size, and his neck seemed very hot and heavy; and, somehow, his hands became paws, and his skin grew hairy and yellow.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** neck, hands, skin · **What happens:** swell, seem, become, grow · **To what, where:** head, paws

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (neck, hands, skin), 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:pg3282:18:3
# text = In an instant his head had swollen to several times its usual size, and his neck seemed very hot and heavy; and, somehow, his hands became paws, and his skin grew hairy and yellow.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	swollen	swell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
31	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
37	hairy	hairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swell** | past · perfect · passive |  | boy's head |  |  | time | in a instant | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent in instant=Attribute |
| 2 | **seem** | past | boy's neck |  |  |  |  | hot *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **become** | past | boy's hands | paws |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **grow** | past | boy's skin |  |  |  |  | hairy *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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