---
title: The fowler, who had hidden himself at some distance, saw the pigeons… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The fowler, who had hidden himself at some distance, saw the pigeons flying away with his net and hastened to stop them, but was too late, and soon they were out of sight. Who acts: fowler, pigeons, net. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Open
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 8, sentence 19

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The fowler, who had hidden himself at some distance, saw the pigeons flying away with his net and hastened to stop them, but was too late, and soon they were out of sight.

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**Who acts:** fowler, pigeons, net · **What happens:** hide, see, fly away, hasten, stop, be · **To what, where:** fowler, pigeons, net, sight

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fowler, pigeons, net), 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:pg65965:8:20
# text = The fowler, who had hidden himself at some distance, saw the pigeons flying away with his net and hastened to stop them, but was too late, and soon they were out of sight.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fowler	fowler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl:relcl	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	pigeons	pigeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	away	away	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	hastened	hasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	too	too	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	37	advmod	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hide** | past · perfect · passive |  | the fowler |  |  |  | at some distance | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past | the fowler | the pigeons |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pigeon=Stimulus |
| 3 | **fly away** | gerund | the pigeons *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with fowler's net; away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **hasten** | participle | the pigeons *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **stop** | to-infinitive | the pigeons *not said here* | net |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality they=Eventuality |
| 6 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | past | net |  |  | sight |  | soon *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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