---
title: When the birds began to sing he could lie still no longer, and climb… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the birds began to sing he could lie still no longer, and climbed out of his window into the branches of one of the great lime-trees that stood before the door. Who acts: birds, bird, great lime trees. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the birds began to sing he could lie still no longer, and climbed out of his window into the branches of one of the great lime-trees that stood before the door.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** birds, bird, great lime trees · **What happens:** begin, sing, lie, climb, stand · **To what, where:** window, door

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds, bird, great lime trees), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:22:79
# text = When the birds began to sing he could lie still no longer, and climbed out of his window into the branches of one of the great lime-trees that stood before the door.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	still	still	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	no	no	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	of	of	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	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nmod	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
27	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
28	lime	lime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
32	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	before	before	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **lie** | could | bird |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **climb** | past |  |  |  | bird's window |  | into the branches of one of the great lime trees | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme out window=Initial\_Location into branch=Destination |
| 5 | **stand** | past | the great lime trees |  |  | the door |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before door=Location |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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