--- title: There was also a tale of a magnificent black cat as large as a foal,… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: There was also a tale of a magnificent black cat as large as a foal, but men could not believe all the wonders told by the peasant, and it was difficult to make out what was true and what was false in his story. Who acts: tale, men, magnificent black cat. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/9/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/) / 9 # The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 9 There was also a tale of a magnificent black cat as large as a foal, but men could not believe all the wonders told by the peasant, and it was difficult to make out what was true and what was false in his story. **Who acts:** tale, men, magnificent black cat · **What happens:** be, not believe, tell, make out · **To what, where:** wonders, story · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of the Tontlawald. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tale, men, magnificent black cat), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg641:2:9 # text = There was also a tale of a magnificent black cat as large as a foal, but men could not believe all the wonders told by the peasant, and it was difficult to make out what was true and what was false in his story. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 also also ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 8 magnificent magnificent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 9 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ _ 11 as as ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 13 as as ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 foal foal NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 18 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj _ _ 19 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 20 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 21 advmod _ _ 21 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 22 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 24 det:predet _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 wonders wonder NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obj _ _ 25 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 acl _ _ 26 by by ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 peasant peasant NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 31 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 expl _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 33 difficult difficult ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 parataxis _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 csubj _ _ 36 out out ADP RP _ 35 compound:prt _ _ 37 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 39 nsubj _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 39 true true ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 xcomp _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 41 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 43 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 43 false false ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 conj _ _ 44 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | a tale of a magnificent black cat | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **not** **believe** | could | men | all wonders | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer wonder=Stimulus | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle | | all wonders *not said here* | | | | by the peasant | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is** | past | | | | | | difficult *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **make out** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | past | | | | | | true *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **is** | past | | | | man's story | | false *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **tell** | | a magnificent black cat | | | | | | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/10/) - ↑ back to [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/)