---
title: Now this Sparrow, although the poor man did not know it, was really… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Now this Sparrow, although the poor man did not know it, was really a fairy in disguise, and later on, when it had grown up, it flew out one day and returned with its beak full of grain. Who acts: poor man, Sparrow, step. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Conn
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Two Neighbours., sentence 8

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Now this Sparrow, although the poor man did not know it, was really a fairy in disguise, and later on, when it had grown up, it flew out one day and returned with its beak full of grain.

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**Who acts:** poor man, Sparrow, step · **What happens:** not know, be, grow up, fly out, return · **To what, where:** step, fairy, disguise

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Two Neighbours.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor man, Sparrow, step), 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:pg75000:5:8
# text = Now this Sparrow, although the poor man did not know it, was really a fairy in disguise, and later on, when it had grown up, it flew out one day and returned with its beak full of grain.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	Sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
5	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	appos	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	really	really	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	disguise	disguise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	parataxis	_	_
29	up	up	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
33	out	out	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl:unmarked	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	beak	beak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the poor man | step |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this Sparrow | a fairy |  | disguise |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **grow up** | past · perfect | step |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fly out** | past | step |  |  |  | day | out *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **return** | past | step *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with step's beak | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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:** «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (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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