---
title: He heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw the Butterfly… — The Book of Dragons · tree and pragmatics
description: He heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw the Butterfly fluttering among the lilies, and he said: "Nurse, wipe my face, please. Who acts: King, Blue Bird, Butterfly. A sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 2, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw the Butterfly fluttering among the lilies, and he said: "Nurse, wipe my face, please.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, Blue Bird, Butterfly · **What happens:** hear, sing, see, flutter, say, wipe · **To what, where:** Blue Bird, roses, Butterfly, lilies, Nurse, face · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, 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 (King, Blue Bird, Butterfly), 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:pg23661:2:58
# text = He heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw the Butterfly fluttering among the lilies, and he said: "Nurse, wipe my face, please.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	Bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	among	among	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Butterfly	Butterfly	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	fluttering	flutter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
15	among	among	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	Nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	wipe	wipe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
30	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | King | the Blue Bird |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | the Blue Bird *not said here* |  |  | the roses |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme among rose=Location |
| 3 | **see** | past | King *not said here* | the Butterfly |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **flutter** | gerund | the Butterfly *not said here* |  |  | the lilies |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme among lily=Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | King | Nurse |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **wipe** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | my face |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent face=Source |

<!-- .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 Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Project Gutenberg book 23661 (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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