---
title: But he had not long been sitting there alone, when he heard a flutte… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But he had not long been sitting there alone, when he heard a fluttering sound near him in the chimney and presently down by his side dropped the tiniest wee girl you could think of; she was not a span high, and had hair like spun silver, eyes as green as grass, and cheeks red as June roses. Who act
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 2, sentence 52

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But he had not long been sitting there alone, when he heard a fluttering sound near him in the chimney and presently down by his side dropped the tiniest wee girl you could think of; she was not a span high, and had hair like spun silver, eyes as green as grass, and cheeks red as June roses.

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**Who acts:** boy, you, girl · **What happens:** have, not sit, hear, flutter, drop, think · **To what, where:** fluttering sound, chimney, tiniest wee girl, hair

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, 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 (boy, you, girl), 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:pg14241:16:52
# text = But he had not long been sitting there alone, when he heard a fluttering sound near him in the chimney and presently down by his side dropped the tiniest wee girl you could think of; she was not a span high, and had hair like spun silver, eyes as green as grass, and cheeks red as June roses.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux	_	_
7	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	xcomp	_	_
8	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	fluttering	flutter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	amod	_	_
16	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	near	near	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	chimney	chimney	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
23	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	down	down	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
28	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	tiniest	tiny	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	amod	_	_
31	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	acl:relcl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
40	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	span	span	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl:unmarked	_	_
43	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
47	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
48	like	like	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	amod	_	_
50	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	conj	_	_
53	as	as	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
55	as	as	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	cheeks	cheek	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
60	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	xcomp	_	_
61	as	as	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	June	June	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	63	compound	_	_
63	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **sit** | participle · progressive | boy *not said here* |  |  | there |  | alone, long *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **hear** | past | boy | a fluttering sound |  | the chimney |  | near fire | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 4 | **flutter** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **drop** | past | boy *not said here* | the tiniest wee girl |  |  |  | by boy's side; down *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent girl=Theme by side=Destination |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | could | you | the tiniest wee girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot girl=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **is** | past | girl |  |  |  |  | a span *obl:unmarked*; high *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **have** | past | boy *not said here* | hair and eyes |  |  |  | like spun silver | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient |
| 9 | **spin** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **cheek** | present | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as June roses; red *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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