---
title: They talked so much about the Bird of Truth that at last the king he… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They talked so much about the Bird of Truth that at last the king heard of it, and expressed a wish to see her. Who acts: courtiers, last king. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 105

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They talked so much about the Bird of Truth that at last the king heard of it, and expressed a wish to see her.

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**Who acts:** courtiers, last king · **What happens:** talk, hear, express, see · **To what, where:** that, wish, news

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (courtiers, last king), 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:pg3027:33:105
# text = They talked so much about the Bird of Truth that at last the king heard of it, and expressed a wish to see her.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Bird	Bird	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Truth	Truth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	expressed	express	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
25	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | courtiers *= courtier* |  |  |  |  | about the Bird of Truth | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about bird=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** | past | the last king | that |  |  |  | of word | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus |
| 3 | **express** | past | courtiers *= courtier* *not said here* | a wish |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wish=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | courtiers *= courtier* *not said here* | news |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

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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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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