---
title: He had not been seated more than a few minutes before the two birds… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: He had not been seated more than a few minutes before the two birds came and perched a few feet above his head. Who acts: two birds. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Eighth Key., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, The Eighth Key., sentence 71

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He had not been seated more than a few minutes before the two birds came and perched a few feet above his head.

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**Who acts:** two birds · **What happens:** not seat, come, perch · **To what, where:** minister, few feet, head

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Eighth Key.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two birds), 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:pg76982:11:71
# text = He had not been seated more than a few minutes before the two birds came and perched a few feet above his head.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	obj	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	perched	perch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
21	above	above	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	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 | **not** **seat** | past · perfect · passive |  | minister |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | the two birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **perch** | past | the two birds *not said here* | a few feet |  | minister's head |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent foot=Theme above head=Destination |

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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 of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Project Gutenberg book 76982 (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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