---
title: The little birds in the chestnut-trees twittered, "Tweet, tweet;" th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little birds in the chestnut-trees twittered, "Tweet, tweet;" they were so happy, although they had seen the funeral; but they seemed as if they knew that the dead man was now in heaven, and that he had wings much larger and more beautiful than their own; and he was happy now, because he had bee
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Travelling Companion, part 1, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little birds in the chestnut-trees twittered, "Tweet, tweet;" they were so happy, although they had seen the funeral; but they seemed as if they knew that the dead man was now in heaven, and that he had wings much larger and more beautiful than their own; and he was happy now, because he had been good here on earth, and they were glad of it.

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**Who acts:** little birds, birds, dead man, man · **What happens:** twitter, be, see, seem, know, have · **To what, where:** Tweet, funeral, heaven, wings, earth

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Travelling Companion, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little birds, birds, dead man, man), 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:pg27200:196:26
# text = The little birds in the chestnut-trees twittered, "Tweet, tweet;" they were so happy, although they had seen the funeral; but they seemed as if they knew that the dead man was now in heaven, and that he had wings much larger and more beautiful than their own; and he was happy now, because he had been good here on earth, and they were glad of it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	chestnut	chestnut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
9	twittered	twitter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Tweet	Tweet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	tweet	tweet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	parataxis	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	funeral	funeral	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
41	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
49	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	_
50	much	much	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	49	amod	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	54	advmod	_	_
54	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	conj	_	_
55	than	than	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	cop	_	_
62	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
63	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	62	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
65	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	69	mark	_	_
66	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	nsubj	_	_
67	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	69	aux	_	_
68	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	69	cop	_	_
69	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	conj	_	_
70	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	69	advmod	_	_
71	on	on	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
72	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
74	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	77	cc	_	_
75	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	77	nsubj	_	_
76	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	77	cop	_	_
77	glad	glad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
78	of	of	ADP	IN	_	79	case	_	_
79	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	77	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twitter** | past | the little birds in the chestnut trees | Tweet and tweet |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent tweet=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past · perfect | birds *= bird* | the funeral |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer funeral=Stimulus |
| 4 | **seem** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **know** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | the dead man |  |  | heaven | now |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | past | man | wings |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |
| 8 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  | now | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** | past · perfect | man |  |  | earth; here |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  | of joy; glad *property* | 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:** «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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