--- title: "It's only a sparrow," they said; they did not, however, let her go,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "It's only a sparrow," they said; they did not, however, let her go, but took her home with them, and every time she cried they hit her on the beak. Who acts: way, sparrows, hair. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, with its dependency --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/68/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Neighbouring Families](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/) / 68 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 68 "It's only a sparrow," they said; they did not, however, let her go, but took her home with them, and every time she cried they hit her on the beak. **Who acts:** way, sparrows, hair · **What happens:** be, say, not do, let, go, take · **To what, where:** sparrow, hair, home, time · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, sparrows, hair), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:124:68 # text = "It's only a sparrow," they said; they did not, however, let her go, but took her home with them, and every time she cried they hit her on the beak. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 only only ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 sparrow sparrow NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 9 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ; ; PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 ccomp _ _ 14 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 however however ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 18 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 19 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 24 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 26 with with ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 30 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 31 det _ _ 31 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl:unmarked _ _ 32 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 cried cry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 acl:relcl _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 36 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 beak beak NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | way | a sparrow | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | sparrows *= sparrow* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **not** **do** | past | sparrows *= sparrow* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **let** | infinitive | | hair | | | | however *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **go** | infinitive | hair *not said here* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **take** | past | | hair's home | | | | with sparrows *= sparrow* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme | | 7 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | hair | every time *not said here* | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Topic | | 8 | **hit** | past | sparrows *= sparrow* | hair | | | time | on the beak | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent she=Instrument on beak=Patient | 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. **Text:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/69/) - ↑ back to [The Neighbouring Families](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/124/)