---
title: How the little sparrow chattered and sputtered, shook his wings, and… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: How the little sparrow chattered and sputtered, shook his wings, and at last said, “In what way are you, with your long neck and short tail, better than I? Who acts: little sparrow, you. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, with its
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 20

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How the little sparrow chattered and sputtered, shook his wings, and at last said, “In what way are you, with your long neck and short tail, better than I?

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**Who acts:** little sparrow, you · **What happens:** chatter, sputter, shake, say, be · **To what, where:** wings, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little sparrow, you), 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:pg75089:8:20
# text = How the little sparrow chattered and sputtered, shook his wings, and at last said, “In what way are you, with your long neck and short tail, better than I?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	chattered	chatter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	sputtered	sputter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	In	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	ccomp	_	_
21	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	parataxis	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
34	than	than	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chatter** | past | the little sparrow |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **sputter** | past | the little sparrow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **shake** | past |  | sparrow's wings |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  | last |  | your long neck and short tail *parataxis* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | way *obl:unmarked* | tree rules |

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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:** «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (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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