---
title: Scarcely had she said these words when the dove flew down from the b… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Scarcely had she said these words when the dove flew down from the branch and settled on her shoulder, nestling up against her neck while she smoothed its feathers. Who acts: Scarcely, dove. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Earl Mar's Daughter, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Earl Mar's Daughter, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scarcely had she said these words when the dove flew down from the branch and settled on her shoulder, nestling up against her neck while she smoothed its feathers.

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**Who acts:** Scarcely, dove · **What happens:** have, say, fly down, settle, nestle up, smooth · **To what, where:** words, branch, neck, feathers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Earl Mar's Daughter. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Scarcely, dove), 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:pg7439:35:6
# text = Scarcely had she said these words when the dove flew down from the branch and settled on her shoulder, nestling up against her neck while she smoothed its feathers.
1	Scarcely	Scarcely	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
11	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	settled	settle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	nestling	nestle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	against	against	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	smoothed	smooth	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
29	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Scarcely |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Scarcely | this words |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 3 | **fly down** | past | the dove |  |  | the branch |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from branch=Trajectory |
| 4 | **settle** | past | Scarcely *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on Scarcely's shoulder | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V PP.theme S»: agent=Agent on shoulder=Topic |
| 5 | **nestle up** | gerund | Scarcely *not said here* |  |  | Scarcely's neck |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against neck=Location |
| 6 | **smooth** | past | Scarcely | dove's feathers |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent feather=Patient |

<!-- .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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