---
title: It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over t… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of harm's way. Who acts: note, purple bird, Ulysses. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» b
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, Circe's Palace., part 5, sentence 4

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It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of harm's way.

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**Who acts:** note, purple bird, Ulysses · **What happens:** be, sit, watch, go, hope, remember · **To what, where:** purple bird, heads, Ulysses, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Circe's Palace., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (note, purple bird, Ulysses), 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:pg976:19:4
# text = It was the purple bird, who, all this while, had been sitting over their heads, watching what was going forward, and hoping that Ulysses would remember how he had done his utmost to keep him and his followers out of harm's way.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	purple	purple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	11	det:predet	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux	_	_
15	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
21	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	ccomp	_	_
24	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	Ulysses	Ulysses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
32	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	ccomp	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	utmost	utmost	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	xcomp	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	followers	follower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	conj	_	_
44	out	out	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	's	's	PART	POS	_	46	case	_	_
48	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | note | the purple bird |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit** | past · perfect · progressive | the purple bird |  |  | pe's heads |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over head=Location |
| 3 | **watch** | gerund | the purple bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **hope** | gerund | the purple bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **remember** | would | Ulysses |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **do** | past · perfect | Ulysses |  |  |  |  | utmost *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **keep** | to-infinitive | Ulysses *not said here* | Ulysses |  | harm's way |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme out way=Location |

<!-- .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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