---
title: The coachman was a rose-coloured rat, the postilion a grey one, and… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The coachman was a rose-coloured rat, the postilion a grey one, and the carriage was occupied by the tiniest and most charming figures, who could dance and do wonderful tricks. Who acts: coachman, postilion, tiniest charming figures. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Bird
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Blue Bird, part 4, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The coachman was a rose-coloured rat, the postilion a grey one, and the carriage was occupied by the tiniest and most charming figures, who could dance and do wonderful tricks.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** coachman, postilion, tiniest charming figures · **What happens:** be, one, occupy, dance, do · **To what, where:** coloured rat, carriage, wonderful tricks

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Bird, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (coachman, postilion, tiniest charming figures), 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:pg7277:5:25
# text = The coachman was a rose-coloured rat, the postilion a grey one, and the carriage was occupied by the tiniest and most charming figures, who could dance and do wonderful tricks.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	coachman	coachman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	postilion	postilion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	occupied	occupy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
23	tiniest	tiny	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	amod	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	conj	_	_
26	charming	charming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	parataxis	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
34	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the coachman | a coloured rat and a grey one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **one** |  | the postilion |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **occupy** | past · passive | the tiniest charming figures | the carriage |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **dance** | could | the tiniest charming figures |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **do** | infinitive | the tiniest charming figures *not said here* | wonderful tricks |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trick=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 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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