---
title: The old proverb, which every one knows, says that "the cattle know w… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The old proverb, which every one knows, says that "the cattle know when to leave their pasture, but a foolish man knows not the measure of his own appetite." Who acts: one, old proverb, cattle, foolish man. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Da
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old proverb, which every one knows, says that "the cattle know when to leave their pasture, but a foolish man knows not the measure of his own appetite."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one, old proverb, cattle, foolish man · **What happens:** know, say, leave, not know, measure · **To what, where:** old proverb, pasture, measure, own appetite · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, old proverb, cattle, foolish man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:84:29
# text = The old proverb, which every one knows, says that "the cattle know when to leave their pasture, but a foolish man knows not the measure of his own appetite."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obj	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	pasture	pasture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	measure	measure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	appetite	appetite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | every one | the old proverb |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the old proverb |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | the cattle |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **leave** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | cattle's pasture |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pasture=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **know** *in a quote* | present | a foolish man | the measure of proverb's own appetite |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer measure=Stimulus |
| 6 | **measure** *in a quote* |  |  | proverb's own appetite |  |  |  |  | nom measure «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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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