---
title: “Whose sheep are these, and what are they doing here?” asked the old… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Whose sheep are these, and what are they doing here?” asked the old man in wonder, and his son told him. Who acts: sheep, old man, son. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Whose sheep are these, and what are they doing here?” asked the old man in wonder, and his son told him.

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**Who acts:** sheep, old man, son · **What happens:** be, do, ask, tell · **To what, where:** these, youth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sheep, old man, son), 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:pg2435:26:78
# text = “Whose sheep are these, and what are they doing here?” asked the old man in wonder, and his son told him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl	_	_
12	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	wonder	wonder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | sheep | these |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** *in a quote* | present · progressive | sheep |  |  | here |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | youth's son |  | youth |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |

<!-- .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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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