---
title: “What a strange creature, let us try what he is made of,” said one,… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “What a strange creature, let us try what he is made of,” said one, and she stooped down and gave him a pinch. Who acts: strange creature, us, sort. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“What a strange creature, let us try what he is made of,” said one, and she stooped down and gave him a pinch.

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**Who acts:** strange creature, us, sort · **What happens:** let, try, make, say, stoop down, give · **To what, where:** us, creature, one, pinch · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (strange creature, us, sort), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:20:32
# text = “What a strange creature, let us try what he is made of,” said one, and she stooped down and gave him a pinch.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	5	det:predet	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
8	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	stooped	stoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
23	down	down	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	iobj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	pinch	pinch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | what strange creature | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **try** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **make** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | creature |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stoop down** | past | sort |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **give** | past | sort *not said here* | a pinch | creature |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient pinch=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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