---
title: The first is pure white, the second a foxy-red with a black head, th… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first is pure white, the second a foxy-red with a black head, the third coal black with a white head and feet. Who acts: first. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Knife, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Enchanted Knife, sentence 6

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The first is pure white, the second a foxy-red with a black head, the third coal black with a white head and feet.

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**Who acts:** first · **What happens:** be

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Knife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first), 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:pg641:23:6
# text = The first is pure white, the second a foxy-red with a black head, the third coal black with a white head and feet.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	foxy	foxy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	20	amod	_	_
20	coal	coal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
21	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the first |  |  |  |  | white *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the first *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 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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