---
title: The eaglets naturally were rather surprised at this strange animal,… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The eaglets naturally were rather surprised at this strange animal, so suddenly popped down in their midst, but instead of beginning to eat her, as their father expected, they nestled up close to her and spread out their tiny wings to shield her from the sun. Who acts: eaglets, father. A sentence of
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 109

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The eaglets naturally were rather surprised at this strange animal, so suddenly popped down in their midst, but instead of beginning to eat her, as their father expected, they nestled up close to her and spread out their tiny wings to shield her from the sun.

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**Who acts:** eaglets, father · **What happens:** be, pop down, begin, eat, expect, nestle · **To what, where:** midst, animal, tiny wings, sun.

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eaglets, father), 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:pg2435:9:109
# text = The eaglets naturally were rather surprised at this strange animal, so suddenly popped down in their midst, but instead of beginning to eat her, as their father expected, they nestled up close to her and spread out their tiny wings to shield her from the sun.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eaglets	eaglet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	naturally	naturally	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
9	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	popped	pop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	23	mark	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	fixed	_	_
23	beginning	begin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	expected	expect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	nestled	nestle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
35	up	up	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
41	out	out	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
43	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	shield	shield	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
47	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	from	from	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the eaglets |  |  |  |  | at this strange animal; surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pop down** | participle | the eaglets *not said here* |  |  | eaglets's midst |  | suddenly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in midst=Location |
| 3 | **begin** | gerund | the eaglets *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | the eaglets *not said here* | animal |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 5 | **expect** | past | eaglets's father |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **nestle** | past | eaglets *= eaglet* |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **spread out** | past | eaglets *= eaglet* *not said here* | eaglets's tiny wings |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme |
| 8 | **shield** | to-infinitive | eaglets *= eaglet* *not said here* | animal |  | the sun. |  |  | 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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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