---
title: The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the be… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best people looked repulsive or seemed to stand on their heads with no bodies; their faces were so changed that they could not be recognised, and if anyone had a freckle you might be sure it would be spread over the nose and mouth. Wh
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 39

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The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best people looked repulsive or seemed to stand on their heads with no bodies; their faces were so changed that they could not be recognised, and if anyone had a freckle you might be sure it would be spread over the nose and mouth.

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**Who acts:** beautiful landscapes, best people, anyone, you · **What happens:** look, boil, seem, stand, change, not recognise · **To what, where:** heads, faces, freckle, nose

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beautiful landscapes, best people, anyone, you), 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:pg5615:8:39
# text = The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best people looked repulsive or seemed to stand on their heads with no bodies; their faces were so changed that they could not be recognised, and if anyone had a freckle you might be sure it would be spread over the nose and mouth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	_
3	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	landscapes	landscape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	boiled	boil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	spinach	spinach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	repulsive	repulsive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	recognised	recognise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
41	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	42	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	freckle	freckle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
46	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	cop	_	_
48	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	parataxis	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj:pass	_	_
50	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	aux:pass	_	_
52	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	ccomp	_	_
53	over	over	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | the beautiful landscapes |  |  |  |  | like boiled spinach | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **boil** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **look** | past | the best people |  |  |  |  | repulsive *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **seem** | past | the best people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **stand** | to-infinitive | the best people *not said here* |  |  | people's heads |  | with no bodies | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location |
| 6 | **change** | past · passive |  | people's faces |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **not** **recognise** | could · passive |  | faces *= face* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 8 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | anyone | a freckle |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent freckle=Patient |
| 9 | **is** | might | you |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **spread** | would · passive |  | freckle |  | the nose and mouth |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme over nose=Destination |

<!-- .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 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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