---
title: When a bird stands aloof watching your strange ways, a thin bluish w… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: When a bird stands aloof watching your strange ways, a thin bluish white tissue slips quickly over his eyes and as quickly off again; so quick that you think it was only a mysterious blue wink. Who acts: bird, thin bluish white tissue, you. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi an
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Coyote, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When a bird stands aloof watching your strange ways, a thin bluish white tissue slips quickly over his eyes and as quickly off again; so quick that you think it was only a mysterious blue wink.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bird, thin bluish white tissue, you · **What happens:** stand, watch, slip, think, be · **To what, where:** strange ways, eyes, mysterious blue wink · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Coyote. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird, thin bluish white tissue, you), 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:pg338:5:35
# text = When a bird stands aloof watching your strange ways, a thin bluish white tissue slips quickly over his eyes and as quickly off again; so quick that you think it was only a mysterious blue wink.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	aloof	aloof	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
12	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
13	bluish	bluish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	tissue	tissue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	slips	slip	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	over	over	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	off	off	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	again	again	ADV	RB	_	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
34	only	only	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	mysterious	mysterious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	wink	wink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | present | a bird |  |  |  |  | aloof *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **watch** | gerund | a bird *not said here* | your strange ways |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 3 | **slip** | present | a thin bluish white tissue |  |  | tissue's eyes |  | quickly *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | past | bird | a mysterious blue wink |  |  |  |  | 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:** «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Project Gutenberg book 338 (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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