---
title: When they had followed the trail a long way, they saw the birds sitt… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had followed the trail a long way, they saw the birds sitting and laughing under a bush. Who acts: Quails, birds. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Feathered Barbers, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Feathered Barbers, sentence 28

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When they had followed the trail a long way, they saw the birds sitting and laughing under a bush.

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**Who acts:** Quails, birds · **What happens:** follow, see, sit, laugh · **To what, where:** Quails, birds, bush

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This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Feathered Barbers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Quails, 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:pg77804:18:28
# text = When they had followed the trail a long way, they saw the birds sitting and laughing under a bush.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	conj	_	_
18	under	under	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past · perfect · passive |  | Quails *= quail* |  |  |  | a long way *obl:unmarked*; the trail *obj* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP.attribute»: subject=Theme trail=Attribute |
| 2 | **see** | past | Quails *= quail* | the birds |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **laugh** | gerund | the birds *not said here* |  |  | a bush |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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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