---
title: One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering gaily. Who acts: he, Swallow. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 12, sentence 3

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One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering gaily.

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**Who acts:** he, Swallow · **What happens:** happen, see, appear, skim, twitter · **To what, where:** Swallow

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, Swallow), 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:pg21:14:3
# text = One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, skimming along a pool and twittering gaily.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	appeared	appear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	before	before	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	skimming	skim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
18	along	along	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	twittering	twitter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
23	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | he |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | he *not said here* | a Swallow |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer swallow=Stimulus |
| 3 | **appear** | past · perfect | a Swallow |  |  |  | season |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **skim** | gerund | a Swallow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | along a pool | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **twitter** | gerund | a Swallow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | gaily *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 21 (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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