---
title: “One day, when the parent birds were away, a Cat came, thinking to m… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “One day, when the parent birds were away, a Cat came, thinking to make a meal of the young birds, of which there were several. Who acts: parent birds, Cat. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 7, sentence 78

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“One day, when the parent birds were away, a Cat came, thinking to make a meal of the young birds, of which there were several.

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**Who acts:** parent birds, Cat · **What happens:** be, come, think, make · **To what, where:** meal

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parent birds, Cat), 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:pg65965:7:80
# text = “One day, when the parent birds were away, a Cat came, thinking to make a meal of the young birds, of which there were several.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	parent	parent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	obl	_	_
28	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	29	expl	_	_
29	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
30	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the parent birds |  |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** *in a quote* | past | a Cat |  |  |  | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | gerund | a Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **make** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a Cat *not said here* | a meal of the young birds |  |  |  | several *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset meal=Product |
| 5 | **be** *in a quote* | past | a Cat *not said here* |  |  | there |  | which *obl* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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