---
title: Choose only a small white bird that is hidden in a corner, which the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Choose only a small white bird that is hidden in a corner, which the others try incessantly to kill, not knowing that it cannot die. Who acts: you, others, corner. 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 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Choose only a small white bird that is hidden in a corner, which the others try incessantly to kill, not knowing that it cannot die.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, others, corner · **What happens:** choose, hide, try, kill, not know, not die · **To what, where:** small white bird, corner · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, others, corner), 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:pg3027:33:86
# text = Choose only a small white bird that is hidden in a corner, which the others try incessantly to kill, not knowing that it cannot die.
1	Choose	choose	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	try	try	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	incessantly	incessantly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | imperative | you *not said here* | a small white bird |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hide** | present · passive |  | a small white bird |  | a corner |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient in corner=Location |
| 3 | **try** | present | the others | a corner |  |  |  | incessantly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the others *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **know** | gerund | the others *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **not** **die** | can | corner |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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