--- title: "Why, master," they answered, "there is a cuck-oo in this field, and… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics description: "Why, master," they answered, "there is a cuck-oo in this field, and we are building a wall around it so as to keep the bird from straying away." Who acts: wits, cuck oo, we. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wise Men of Gotham., with its dependency tree and the pra --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/45/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [Other Wise Men of Gotham.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/) / 45 # Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Other Wise Men of Gotham., sentence 45 "Why, master," they answered, "there is a cuck-oo in this field, and we are building a wall around it so as to keep the bird from straying away." **Who acts:** wits, cuck oo, we · **What happens:** answer, be, build, keep, stray away · **To what, where:** wall, bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wise Men of Gotham.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wits, cuck oo, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg18442:15:45 # text = "Why, master," they answered, "there is a cuck-oo in this field, and we are building a wall around it so as to keep the bird from straying away." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 4 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 vocative _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 " " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 " " PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 12 expl _ _ 12 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 ccomp _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 14 cuck cuck NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 15 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 oo oo NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 19 det _ _ 19 field field NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 22 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 building build VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 27 around around ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ _ 29 so so ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 as as ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 advcl _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 from from SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 36 straying stray VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 advcl _ _ 37 away away ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | wits *= wit* | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a cuck oo in this field | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **build** *in a quote* | present · progressive | we | a wall | | wall | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Product | | 4 | **keep** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | the bird | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Theme | | 5 | **stray away** *in a quote* | gerund | we *not said here* | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/44/) - next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/46/) - ↑ back to [Other Wise Men of Gotham.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/)