---
title: “My dear little bird,” said the First Lord, “His Most Gracious Highn… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “My dear little bird,” said the First Lord, “His Most Gracious Highness has sent me to invite you to his palace this evening so that he may listen to your charming song.” Who acts: dear little bird, Lord, your. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussen
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 1, sentence 148

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“My dear little bird,” said the First Lord, “His Most Gracious Highness has sent me to invite you to his palace this evening so that he may listen to your charming song.”

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**Who acts:** dear little bird, Lord, your · **What happens:** say, send, invite, listen, sing · **To what, where:** Most Gracious Highness, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, 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 (dear little bird, Lord, your), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:1:156
# text = “My dear little bird,” said the First Lord, “His Most Gracious Highness has sent me to invite you to his palace this evening so that he may listen to your charming song.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
3	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	First	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
11	Lord	Lord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
15	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	17	amod	_	_
16	Gracious	gracious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	Highness	highness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	invite	invite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
29	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	33	mark	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	fixed	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	charming	charming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | My dear little bird |  |  |  |  | the First Lord *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **send** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | Lord's Most Gracious Highness |  |  |  | me *obj* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination i=Theme |
| 3 | **invite** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  | you |  | evening | to Lord's palace | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 4 | **listen** *in a quote* | may | Lord |  |  |  |  | to your charming song | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to song=Theme |
| 5 | **sing** *in a quote* |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (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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