---
title: Now there was a little bird perched on one of the boughs of the tree… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now there was a little bird perched on one of the boughs of the tree, and when all the leaves fell, it said: “Walnut-tree, why do you shed your leaves?” Who acts: little bird, leaves, bird, you. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse, with its dependency tr
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now there was a little bird perched on one of the boughs of the tree, and when all the leaves fell, it said: “Walnut-tree, why do you shed your leaves?”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little bird, leaves, bird, you · **What happens:** be, perch, fall, say, shed · **To what, where:** little bird, leaves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little bird, leaves, bird, you), 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:pg7439:19:25
# text = Now there was a little bird perched on one of the boughs of the tree, and when all the leaves fell, it said: “Walnut-tree, why do you shed your leaves?”
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
7	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boughs	bough	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
27	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Walnut	Walnut	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
33	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	shed	shed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
36	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a little bird |  |  | there | now |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **perch** | participle |  | a little bird *not said here* |  |  |  | on one of the boughs of the tree | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on one=Location |
| 3 | **fall** | past | all leaves |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **shed** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | your leaves |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location leaf=Source |

<!-- .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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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