---
title: But they were all so precisely alike that they looked like one face… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But they were all so precisely alike that they looked like one face reflected in thirty mirrors, and the fly was nowhere to be seen; the second time he passed them he still saw nothing; but the third time he perceived a little fly stealing down one cheek, causing it to blush a faint pink. Who acts: 
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/27/121/)

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 2, sentence 121

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But they were all so precisely alike that they looked like one face reflected in thirty mirrors, and the fly was nowhere to be seen; the second time he passed them he still saw nothing; but the third time he perceived a little fly stealing down one cheek, causing it to blush a faint pink.

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**Who acts:** eyes, fly, little fly, mirror · **What happens:** be, reflect, see, pass, perceive, steal · **To what, where:** one face, thirty mirrors, fly, eyes, nothing, little fly

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes, fly, little fly, mirror), 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:pg7277:27:121
# text = But they were all so precisely alike that they looked like one face reflected in thirty mirrors, and the fly was nowhere to be seen; the second time he passed them he still saw nothing; but the third time he perceived a little fly stealing down one cheek, causing it to blush a faint pink.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	precisely	precisely	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	alike	alike	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	reflected	reflect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	mirrors	mirror	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fly	fly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
23	nowhere	nowhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	30	amod	_	_
30	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl:unmarked	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
37	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	42	amod	_	_
42	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl:unmarked	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	perceived	perceive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	fly	fly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
48	stealing	steal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	acl	_	_
49	down	down	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	51	nummod	_	_
51	cheek	cheek	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	causing	cause	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	conj	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	blush	blush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	pink	pink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | like one face; look, precisely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reflect** | participle |  | one face *not said here* |  | thirty mirrors |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **see** | past · passive |  | the fly |  |  |  | nowhere *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 4 | **pass** | past | fly | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Trajectory |
| 5 | **see** | past | fly | nothing |  |  | still; time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 6 | **perceive** | past | fly | a little fly |  |  | time |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer fly=Stimulus |
| 7 | **steal** | gerund | a little fly *not said here* | one cheek |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cheek=Theme |
| 8 | **cause** | gerund | a little fly *not said here* | mirror |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **blush** | to-infinitive | mirror *not said here* | a faint pink |  |  |  |  | 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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