---
title: The pigeons, seeing that they were safely away from the fowler, aske… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The pigeons, seeing that they were safely away from the fowler, asked the King what they should do next. Who acts: Pigeons. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 8, sentence 20

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The pigeons, seeing that they were safely away from the fowler, asked the King what they should do next.

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**Who acts:** Pigeons · **What happens:** see, be, ask, do · **To what, where:** fowler, King

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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 (Pigeons), 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:pg65965:8:21
# text = The pigeons, seeing that they were safely away from the fowler, asked the King what they should do next.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	pigeons	pigeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	nmod	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advcl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fowler	fowler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	obj	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
21	next	next	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | Pigeons *= pigeon* |  |  | the fowler |  | away, safely *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the pigeons |  | the King |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent king=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** *not said to happen* | should | Pigeons *= pigeon* |  |  |  |  | what *obj*; next *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

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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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