--- title: He fluttered slowly to the ground and paused for a few minutes under… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He fluttered slowly to the ground and paused for a few minutes under a thicket of syringas, and while he was gazing about him, there walked slowly past a flock of the same beautiful birds he had seen so many months ago. Who acts: bird. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/106/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/) / 106 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 106 He fluttered slowly to the ground and paused for a few minutes under a thicket of syringas, and while he was gazing about him, there walked slowly past a flock of the same beautiful birds he had seen so many months ago. **Who acts:** bird · **What happens:** flutter, pause, gaze, walk, see · **To what, where:** thicket, flock, same beautiful birds This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:9:106 # text = He fluttered slowly to the ground and paused for a few minutes under a thicket of syringas, and while he was gazing about him, there walked slowly past a flock of the same beautiful birds he had seen so many months ago. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 fluttered flutter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 paused pause VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 9 for for ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 minutes minute NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 13 under under ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 thicket thicket NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 syringas syringa NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 20 while while SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 gazing gaze VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 advcl _ _ 24 about about ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 28 advmod _ _ 28 walked walk VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 29 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 30 past past ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 flock flock NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 35 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 36 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 birds bird NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 nmod _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 acl:relcl _ _ 41 so so ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 months month NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obl:unmarked _ _ 44 ago ago ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **flutter** | past | bird | | | | | to the ground; slowly *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **pause** | past | bird *not said here* | | | a thicket of syringas | minute | | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under thicket=Location | | 3 | **gaze** | past · progressive | bird | | | | | about garden | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent about he=Theme | | 4 | **walk** | past | bird *not said here* | | | a flock of the same beautiful birds; there | | slowly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme past flock=Trajectory | | 5 | **see** | past · perfect | bird | the same beautiful birds *not said here* | | | | ago *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 105](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/105/) - next →: [sentence 107](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/107/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/)