---
title: Indeed, he was such a strange, queer-looking creature, that when he… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Indeed, he was such a strange, queer-looking creature, that when he first chipped his shell his mother could scarcely believe her eyes, he was so different from the twelve other fluffy, downy, soft little chicks who nestled under her wings. Who acts: he, mother, twelve other fluffy downy soft little
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Half-chick, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Indeed, he was such a strange, queer-looking creature, that when he first chipped his shell his mother could scarcely believe her eyes, he was so different from the twelve other fluffy, downy, soft little chicks who nestled under her wings.

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**Who acts:** he, mother, twelve other fluffy downy soft little chicks · **What happens:** look, be, chip, believe, nestle · **To what, where:** strange looking creature, shell, eyes, wings

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Half-chick. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, mother, twelve other fluffy downy soft little chicks), 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:pg7277:6:3
# text = Indeed, he was such a strange, queer-looking creature, that when he first chipped his shell his mother could scarcely believe her eyes, he was so different from the twelve other fluffy, downy, soft little chicks who nestled under her wings.
1	Indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
5	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	12	det:predet	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
7	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	queer	queer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	amod	_	_
12	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	advmod	_	_
18	chipped	chip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	parataxis	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
35	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	nummod	_	_
36	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
37	fluffy	fluffy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
39	downy	downy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
41	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	chicks	chick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj	_	_
45	nestled	nestle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
46	under	under	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | past | he | such strange looking creature |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **chip** | past | he | his shell |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **believe** | could | his mother | mother's eyes |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer eye=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | from the twelve other fluffy downy soft little chicks; different *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **nestle** | past | the twelve other fluffy downy soft little chicks |  |  | mother's wings |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent under wing=Location |

<!-- .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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