---
title: The poor little thing was very much frightened and cried out as it f… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The poor little thing was very much frightened and cried out as it flew, and the great bird came behind it terribly fast, flapping its wings and craning its beak, for it was hungry and wanted some dinner. Who acts: thing, great bird, bird. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 48

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The poor little thing was very much frightened and cried out as it flew, and the great bird came behind it terribly fast, flapping its wings and craning its beak, for it was hungry and wanted some dinner.

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**Who acts:** thing, great bird, bird · **What happens:** frighten, cry out, fly, come, flap, crane · **To what, where:** poor little thing, thing, wings, beak, dinner

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thing, great bird, bird), 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:pg5615:36:48
# text = The poor little thing was very much frightened and cried out as it flew, and the great bird came behind it terribly fast, flapping its wings and craning its beak, for it was hungry and wanted some dinner.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	cried	cry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
21	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
23	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	flapping	flap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	craning	crane	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	conj	_	_
31	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	beak	beak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
40	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	41	det	_	_
41	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | the poor little thing |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **cry out** *speech: express* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fly** | past | thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | past | the great bird |  |  | thing |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind it=Location |
| 5 | **flap** | gerund | the great bird *not said here* | thing's wings |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |
| 6 | **crane** | gerund | the great bird *not said here* | thing's beak |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beak=Patient |
| 7 | **is** | past | bird |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **want** | past | the great bird *not said here* | some dinner |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot dinner=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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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