---
title: He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together, and telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods. Who acts: king, cover. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake, with its dependency tr
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together, and telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods.

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**Who acts:** king, cover · **What happens:** go, listen, notice, chatter, tell, see · **To what, where:** another, things, fields · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, cover), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2591:34:9
# text = He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together, and telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	chattering	chatter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
17	together	together	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **listen** | past | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **notice** | past | king *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **chatter** | past · progressive | cover |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | king *not said here* | another |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent another=Recipient |
| 6 | **see** | past · perfect · passive |  | things |  | the fields and woods |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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