---
title: With us, if the male bird dies, the female flies alone; if the femal… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: With us, if the male bird dies, the female flies alone; if the female dies the male flies alone; if both parents die their young fly alone for three years. Who acts: male bird, female, male, parents. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Spar
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With us, if the male bird dies, the female flies alone; if the female dies the male flies alone; if both parents die their young fly alone for three years.

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**Who acts:** male bird, female, male, parents, young · **What happens:** die, fly

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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 (male bird, female, male, parents), 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:pg75089:8:35
# text = With us, if the male bird dies, the female flies alone; if the female dies the male flies alone; if both parents die their young fly alone for three years.
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	male	male	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	dies	die	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	female	female	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	flies	fly	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
13	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	female	female	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	dies	die	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	male	male	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	flies	fly	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
22	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	det	_	_
26	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	young	young	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	fly	fly	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
31	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | present | the male bird |  |  |  |  | with us | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **fly** | present | the female |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **die** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the female |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **fly** | present | the male |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **die** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | both parents |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **fly** | present | parents's young |  |  |  | year | alone *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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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