---
title: So he walked on about a hundred yards, and then he heard above him i… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he walked on about a hundred yards, and then he heard above him in the branches such a screaming and chirping that he looked up, and there he saw a heap of birds tearing a cloth with their beaks and feet, shrieking, tugging, and fighting, as if each wanted it for himself. Who acts: Hunter, birds,
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/12/)

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he walked on about a hundred yards, and then he heard above him in the branches such a screaming and chirping that he looked up, and there he saw a heap of birds tearing a cloth with their beaks and feet, shrieking, tugging, and fighting, as if each wanted it for himself.

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**Who acts:** Hunter, birds, each · **What happens:** walk, hear, scream, chirp, look up, see · **To what, where:** branches, heap, cloth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hunter, birds, each), 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:pg640:10:12
# text = So he walked on about a hundred yards, and then he heard above him in the branches such a screaming and chirping that he looked up, and there he saw a heap of birds tearing a cloth with their beaks and feet, shrieking, tugging, and fighting, as if each wanted it for himself.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	yards	yard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	above	above	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
19	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	20	det:predet	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	appos	_	_
21	screaming	scream	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	chirping	chirp	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
27	up	up	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	_
37	tearing	tear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	acl	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	shrieking	shriek	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	tugging	tug	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	46	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
53	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
54	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
55	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	56	nsubj	_	_
56	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	parataxis	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	for	for	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | Hunter |  |  |  |  | on hundred yards | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on yard=Trajectory |
| 2 | **hear** | past | Hunter |  |  | the branches | then | above him *= he* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **scream** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **chirp** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **look up** | past | Hunter |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **see** | past | Hunter | a heap of birds |  | there |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer heap=Stimulus |
| 7 | **tear** | gerund | birds *not said here* | a cloth |  |  |  | with birds's beaks and feet | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent cloth=Patient with beak=Instrument |
| 8 | **shriek** | gerund | birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **tug** | gerund | birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 10 | **fight** | gerund | Hunter *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | each | cloth |  |  |  | for Hunter | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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