---
title: “Now I know all about it,” says the blackbird, and off he flew; and… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Now I know all about it,” says the blackbird, and off he flew; and that's how the blackbirds make their nests to this very day. Who acts: blackbird, thrush, that, blackbirds. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Magpie's Nest, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The Magpie's Nest, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Now I know all about it,” says the blackbird, and off he flew; and that's how the blackbirds make their nests to this very day.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** blackbird, thrush, that, blackbirds · **What happens:** know, say, fly, be, make · **To what, where:** nests · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Magpie's Nest. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (blackbird, thrush, that, blackbirds), 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:pg7439:42:8
# text = “Now I know all about it,” says the blackbird, and off he flew; and that's how the blackbirds make their nests to this very day.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	blackbird	blackbird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	off	off	ADP	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	blackbirds	blackbird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present | the blackbird *= blackbird* |  |  |  | now | about mud | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the blackbird |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **fly** | past | thrush |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | how *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** | present | the blackbirds | twigs's nests |  |  | day |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset nest=Product |

<!-- .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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