---
title: It was so cold, so cold; the great icebergs glittered strangely, and… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was so cold, so cold; the great icebergs glittered strangely, and the huge whales now lived under the ice, for they could not make a hole through with their awkward heads. Who acts: opening, huge whales, whales. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14, w
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 96

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was so cold, so cold; the great icebergs glittered strangely, and the huge whales now lived under the ice, for they could not make a hole through with their awkward heads.

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**Who acts:** opening, huge whales, whales · **What happens:** be, glitter, live, not make · **To what, where:** great icebergs, ice, hole

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (opening, huge whales, whales), 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:pg3454:14:96
# text = It was so cold, so cold; the great icebergs glittered strangely, and the huge whales now lived under the ice, for they could not make a hole through with their awkward heads.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	icebergs	iceberg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
12	glittered	glitter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	strangely	strangely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	whales	whale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
20	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	under	under	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	parataxis	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	through	through	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
35	awkward	awkward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | opening |  |  |  |  | the great icebergs *obl*; cold *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | opening *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **glitter** | participle |  | the great icebergs *not said here* |  |  |  | strangely *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **live** | past | the huge whales |  |  | the ice | now |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under ice=Location |
| 5 | **not** **make** | could | whales *= whale* | a hole |  |  |  | with whales's awkward heads; through *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hole=Product |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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