---
title: He heard one swallow say to another: “Come, let us fly to Finland; w… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He heard one swallow say to another: “Come, let us fly to Finland; we can build better nests there.” Who acts: prince, one swallow, us, we. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He heard one swallow say to another: “Come, let us fly to Finland; we can build better nests there.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prince, one swallow, us, we · **What happens:** hear, say, come, let, fly, build · **To what, where:** another, us, Finland, better nests · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Water-lily. the Gold-spinners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, one swallow, us, we), 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:pg503:26:90
# text = He heard one swallow say to another: “Come, let us fly to Finland; we can build better nests there.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	swallow	swallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
13	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Finland	Finland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
21	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	amod	_	_
22	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | one swallow |  | another |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to another=Recipient |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fly** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  | Finland |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to finland=Result |
| 6 | **build** *in a quote* | can | we | better nests |  | there |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Product |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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