---
title: Most of them were fair and fat and charming, but there was one who w… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Most of them were fair and fat and charming, but there was one who was dark-skinned and ugly, and spoke a strange language which nobody could understand. Who acts: Most, one, nobody. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Most of them were fair and fat and charming, but there was one who was dark-skinned and ugly, and spoke a strange language which nobody could understand.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Most, one, nobody · **What happens:** be, charm, speak, understand · **To what, where:** strange language · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, 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 (Most, one, nobody), 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:pg540:3:5
# text = Most of them were fair and fat and charming, but there was one who was dark-skinned and ugly, and spoke a strange language which nobody could understand.
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	charming	charm	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nsubj	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	skinned	skinned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	parataxis	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obj	_	_
29	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Most of children |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Most of children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **charm** | gerund | Most of children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **be** | past | one |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | skinned *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **speak** *speech: other* | past |  | a strange language |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **understand** | could | nobody | a strange language |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 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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