---
title: They found lots of cows which were nearly like what they wanted, but… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They found lots of cows which were nearly like what they wanted, but it was only by chance they came on the cow which would do the work, and that beast belonged to the most notorious and malicious and cantankerous female in Lochlann, the Black Hag. Who acts: directions, cows, medicine, cow. A senten
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V. Said Mongan:, sentence 11

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They found lots of cows which were nearly like what they wanted, but it was only by chance they came on the cow which would do the work, and that beast belonged to the most notorious and malicious and cantankerous female in Lochlann, the Black Hag.

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**Who acts:** directions, cows, medicine, cow, beast · **What happens:** find, be, want, come, do, belong · **To what, where:** lots, chance, work

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter V. Said Mongan:. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (directions, cows, medicine, cow), 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:pg2892:76:11
# text = They found lots of cows which were nearly like what they wanted, but it was only by chance they came on the cow which would do the work, and that beast belonged to the most notorious and malicious and cantankerous female in Lochlann, the Black Hag.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	lots	lot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	advcl:relcl	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	only	only	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	33	det	_	_
33	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	38	advmod	_	_
38	notorious	notorious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	malicious	malicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	conj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	cantankerous	cantankerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	conj	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	Lochlann	Lochlann	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	Black	Black	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	_
49	Hag	Hag	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | directions *= direction* | lots and cows |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lot=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | cows |  |  |  |  | like lots and cows; nearly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | past | directions *= direction* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **is** | past | medicine |  |  |  |  | by chance | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** | past | directions *= direction* | chance *not said here* |  |  |  | on the cow | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location chance=Theme |
| 6 | **do** | would | the cow | the work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 7 | **belong** | past | that beast |  |  |  |  | to the notorious | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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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