---
title: But originally the characters were just ‘a man,’ and ‘a woman,’ and… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But originally the characters were just ‘a man,’ and ‘a woman,’ and ‘a boy,’ and ‘a girl,’ with crowds of beasts, birds, and fishes, all behaving like human beings. Who acts: characters, all. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book, with its dependency tree and th
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Violet Fairy Book, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But originally the characters were just ‘a man,’ and ‘a woman,’ and ‘a boy,’ and ‘a girl,’ with crowds of beasts, birds, and fishes, all behaving like human beings.

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**Who acts:** characters, all · **What happens:** be, behave · **To what, where:** man

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (characters, all), 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:pg641:1:17
# text = But originally the characters were just ‘a man,’ and ‘a woman,’ and ‘a boy,’ and ‘a girl,’ with crowds of beasts, birds, and fishes, all behaving like human beings.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	originally	originally	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	crowds	crowd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	41	nsubj	_	_
41	behaving	behave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
42	like	like	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the characters | a man and a woman and a boy and a girl |  |  |  | with crowds of beasts and birds and fishes; originally *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **behave** | gerund | all |  |  |  |  | like human beings | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like being=Attribute |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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