---
title: These feathers were all mixed up in such confusion that the birds th… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: These feathers were all mixed up in such confusion that the birds themselves could not have chosen out their own. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2, sentence 92

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These feathers were all mixed up in such confusion that the birds themselves could not have chosen out their own.

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**What happens:** mix up, not choose out · **To what, where:** feathers, such confusion, birds

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg540:24:92
# text = These feathers were all mixed up in such confusion that the birds themselves could not have chosen out their own.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	mixed	mix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	confusion	confusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	nmod	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
17	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mix up** | past · passive |  | this feathers |  | such confusion |  | all *property* | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **choose out** | could · perfect · passive |  | the birds  birds |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary own=Theme |

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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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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