--- title: But he begged them not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay in the… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But he begged them not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay in the passage: it was a real bird with beak and feathers, and must have died a little time ago, and now laid buried just where he had made his tunnel. Who acts: neighbour, dead bird, passage. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/152/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Witch in the Stone Boat(31)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/) / 152 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 152 But he begged them not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay in the passage: it was a real bird with beak and feathers, and must have died a little time ago, and now laid buried just where he had made his tunnel. **Who acts:** neighbour, dead bird, passage · **What happens:** beg, not be, lie, be, die, bury · **To what, where:** songs, passage, real bird, tunnel This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (neighbour, dead bird, passage), 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:pg640:47:152 # text = But he begged them not to be afraid of the dead bird that lay in the passage: it was a real bird with beak and feathers, and must have died a little time ago, and now laid buried just where he had made his tunnel. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 8 advmod _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 7 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 8 cop _ _ 8 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 advcl _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 13 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 14 nsubj _ _ 14 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 acl:relcl _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 passage passage NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 : : PUNCT : _ 23 punct _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 real real ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 24 with with ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 beak beak NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 30 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 32 aux _ _ 32 died die VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 conj _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 34 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl:unmarked _ _ 36 ago ago ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 39 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 40 advmod _ _ 40 laid lay VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 buried bury VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 42 just just ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 43 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 46 advmod _ _ 44 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 45 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 46 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 41 advcl _ _ 47 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 tunnel tunnel NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | neighbour | | songs *= song* | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | | 2 | **not** **is** | to-infinitive | neighbour *not said here* | | | | | of the dead bird; afraid *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **lie** | past | the dead bird | | | the passage | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in passage=Location | | 4 | **is a** | past | passage | a real bird | | | | with beak and feathers | tree rules | | 5 | **die** | must · perfect | neighbour *not said here* | | | | | ago *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **bury** | participle · passive | neighbour *not said here* | | | | | | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP» | | 7 | **make** | past · perfect | neighbour | neighbour's tunnel | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tunnel=Product | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 151](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/151/) - next →: [sentence 153](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/153/) - ↑ back to [The Witch in the Stone Boat(31)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/)