---
title: The poor man was sitting in his house when the little Sparrow flew i… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: The poor man was sitting in his house when the little Sparrow flew in and perched on the table in front of him. Who acts: poor man, little Sparrow. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Two Neighbours., with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Two Neighbours., sentence 9

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The poor man was sitting in his house when the little Sparrow flew in and perched on the table in front of him.

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**Who acts:** poor man, little Sparrow · **What happens:** sit, fly in, perch · **To what, where:** house, table

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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, little Sparrow), 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:pg75000:5:9
# text = The poor man was sitting in his house when the little Sparrow flew in and perched on the table in front of him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	Sparrow	Sparrow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | the poor man |  |  | fairy's house |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in house=Location |
| 2 | **fly in** | past | the little Sparrow |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **perch** | participle | the little Sparrow *not said here* |  |  | the table in front of fairy |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on table=Location |

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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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