---
title: And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might co… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might communicate; for, at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as himself. Who acts: 
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 1, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might communicate; for, at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as himself.

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**Who acts:** bird, feathered creature · **What happens:** be, listen, communicate, know, happen, not consider · **To what, where:** bird, siege, common run

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird, feathered creature), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg976:15:29
# text = And he was ready to listen attentively to whatever the bird might communicate; for, at the siege of Troy, and elsewhere, he had known such odd things to happen, that he would not have considered it much out of the common run had this little feathered creature talked as plainly as himself.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	attentively	attentively	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	communicate	communicate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Troy	Troy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
29	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
39	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux	_	_
40	considered	consider	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	parataxis	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	much	much	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	run	run	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
48	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
49	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
50	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	feathered	feathered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
53	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	ccomp	_	_
54	as	as	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
56	as	as	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | bird |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **listen** | to-infinitive | bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to whatever; for the siege of Troy; attentively *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to whatever=Theme |
| 3 | **communicate** | might | the bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **know** | past · perfect · passive |  | bird |  |  |  | elsewhere *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **happen** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **consider** | would · perfect | bird | siege |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute |
| 7 | **have** | past | bird *not said here* |  |  | the common run |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **talk** | past | this feathered creature |  |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:** «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Project Gutenberg book 976 (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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