---
title: The first thing they saw on entering the door was her skin lying on… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing they saw on entering the door was her skin lying on the floor, and then they knew that they had been deceived, and they said to each other, ‘So we were right, after all, and it was human flesh we smelt.’ Who acts: first thing, skin, nyamatsanes, we. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 11

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The first thing they saw on entering the door was her skin lying on the floor, and then they knew that they had been deceived, and they said to each other, ‘So we were right, after all, and it was human flesh we smelt.’

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**Who acts:** first thing, skin, nyamatsanes, we · **What happens:** see, enter, be, lie, know, deceive · **To what, where:** door, skin, floor, nyamatsanes, each, human flesh · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first thing, skin, nyamatsanes, we), 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:pg5615:35:11
# text = The first thing they saw on entering the door was her skin lying on the floor, and then they knew that they had been deceived, and they said to each other, ‘So we were right, after all, and it was human flesh we smelt.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	entering	enter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
13	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	deceived	deceive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	30	obl	_	_
33	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	So	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
37	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	after	after	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
47	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
49	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	smelt	smelt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	48	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **enter** | gerund |  | the door |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme door=Destination |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | thing's skin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **lie** | gerund | thing's skin *not said here* |  |  | the floor |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on floor=Location |
| 5 | **know** | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **deceive** | past · perfect · passive |  | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* |  | each |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 8 | **is** | past | we |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **is a** | past | skin | human flesh |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **smelt** | present | we | human flesh *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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