---
title: The bird was buttoned inside his tunic, but, as might have been expe… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The bird was buttoned inside his tunic, but, as might have been expected, the courtiers barred the way, and told the child that he could not enter. Who acts: courtiers, king. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 108

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The bird was buttoned inside his tunic, but, as might have been expected, the courtiers barred the way, and told the child that he could not enter.

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**Who acts:** courtiers, king · **What happens:** button, expect, bar, tell, not enter · **To what, where:** bird, tunic, way, child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, 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:pg3027:33:108
# text = The bird was buttoned inside his tunic, but, as might have been expected, the courtiers barred the way, and told the child that he could not enter.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	buttoned	button	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	tunic	tunic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	courtiers	courtier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	barred	bar	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	iobj	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	enter	enter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **button** | past · passive |  | the bird |  | king's tunic |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **expect** | might · perfect · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S» |
| 3 | **bar** | past | the courtiers | the way |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer way=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the courtiers *not said here* |  | the child |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **enter** *not said to happen* | could | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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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