---
title: All the sparrows, and even a crow--and an old boy he was too--were s… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: All the sparrows, and even a crow--and an old boy he was too--were startled at the sight; but still they flew after her to learn what kind of strange bird she was. Who acts: boy, sparrows. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, with its d
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Neighbouring Families, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All the sparrows, and even a crow--and an old boy he was too--were startled at the sight; but still they flew after her to learn what kind of strange bird she was.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boy, sparrows · **What happens:** be, startle, fly, learn · **To what, where:** old boy, sparrows, sight, kind

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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 (boy, sparrows), 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:pg27200:124:78
# text = All the sparrows, and even a crow--and an old boy he was too--were startled at the sight; but still they flew after her to learn what kind of strange bird she was.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	even	even	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	too	too	ADV	RB	_	13	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	still	still	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	after	after	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
32	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	33	det	_	_
33	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | boy | a old boy *not said here* |  |  |  | too *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **startle** | past · passive |  | all sparrows and a crow |  | the sight |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **fly** | past | sparrows *= sparrow* |  |  |  | after fly; still |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **learn** | to-infinitive | sparrows *= sparrow* *not said here* | what kind of strange bird |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kind=Topic |

<!-- .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:** «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.

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