---
title: “What funny thing shall I see next?” he said to himself, and instant… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “What funny thing shall I see next?” he said to himself, and instantly the door opened, and in came a tiny figure covered by a long black veil. Who acts: funny thing, sight, door, tiny figure. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 1, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“What funny thing shall I see next?” he said to himself, and instantly the door opened, and in came a tiny figure covered by a long black veil.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** funny thing, sight, door, tiny figure · **What happens:** see, say, open, come, cover · **To what, where:** sight, tiny figure · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (funny thing, sight, door, tiny figure), 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:pg503:23:34
# text = “What funny thing shall I see next?” he said to himself, and instantly the door opened, and in came a tiny figure covered by a long black veil.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
3	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
8	next	next	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
28	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
32	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	veil	veil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** *in a quote* | shall | funny thing |  |  |  |  | next *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | sight |  | sight |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **open** | past | the door |  |  |  |  | instantly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | past | a tiny figure |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **cover** | participle |  | a tiny figure *not said here* |  |  |  | by a long black veil | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: 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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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