---
title: I would rather be a star-ling, because it is good-mannered and kind… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: I would rather be a star-ling, because it is good-mannered and kind and a joy to every one who sees it, and it never tries to rob or abuse its neigh-bor." Who acts: I, question, one. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Sons of William the Conqueror., with its dependency
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, The Sons of William the Conqueror., sentence 26

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I would rather be a star-ling, because it is good-mannered and kind and a joy to every one who sees it, and it never tries to rob or abuse its neigh-bor."

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**Who acts:** I, question, one · **What happens:** be, see, not try, rob, abuse · **To what, where:** star ling, question, neigh bor

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Sons of William the Conqueror.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, question, one), 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:pg18442:6:26
# text = I would rather be a star-ling, because it is good-mannered and kind and a joy to every one who sees it, and it never tries to rob or abuse its neigh-bor."
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	ling	ling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	mannered	mannered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
23	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	sees	see	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	tries	try	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	rob	rob	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	abuse	abuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
36	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
37	neigh	neigh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	bor	bor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | I | a star ling |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | question |  |  |  |  | mannered *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | question *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | present | every one | question |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **try** | present | question |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **rob** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | question *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cheat-10.6.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **abuse** | infinitive | question *not said here* | question's neigh bor |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bor=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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.

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