---
title: In the first, great mirrors reflect the past; in the second, we cont… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In the first, great mirrors reflect the past; in the second, we contemplate the present; in the third, the future can be read. Who acts: first great mirrors, we. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3, sentence 77

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In the first, great mirrors reflect the past; in the second, we contemplate the present; in the third, the future can be read.

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**Who acts:** first great mirrors, we · **What happens:** reflect, contemplate, read · **To what, where:** past, present, future

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first great mirrors, 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:pg640:16:77
# text = In the first, great mirrors reflect the past; in the second, we contemplate the present; in the third, the future can be read.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	mirrors	mirror	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	reflect	reflect	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	contemplate	contemplate	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reflect** | present | the first great mirrors | the past |  |  |  | in the second | tree rules |
| 2 | **contemplate** | present | we | the present |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **read** | can · passive |  | the future |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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