---
title: But it was only when someone was watching her that she did her work;… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But it was only when someone was watching her that she did her work; at other times the cow-house was dirty, and the cows ill-fed and beaten, so that they kicked over the pail, and tried to butt her; and everyone said they had never seen such thin cows or such poor milk. Who acts: stepsister, girl, 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 11, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it was only when someone was watching her that she did her work; at other times the cow-house was dirty, and the cows ill-fed and beaten, so that they kicked over the pail, and tried to butt her; and everyone said they had never seen such thin cows or such poor milk.

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**Who acts:** stepsister, girl, cow house, cows, everyone · **What happens:** watch, do, be, feed, beat, kick · **To what, where:** girl, work, cows, pail, such thin cows · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stepsister, girl, cow house, cows), 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:pg3027:11:37
# text = But it was only when someone was watching her that she did her work; at other times the cow-house was dirty, and the cows ill-fed and beaten, so that they kicked over the pail, and tried to butt her; and everyone said they had never seen such thin cows or such poor milk.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
6	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	dirty	dirty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	fed	feed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	parataxis	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	kicked	kick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
39	over	over	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	pail	pail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	butt	butt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	51	nsubj	_	_
51	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
52	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	55	advmod	_	_
55	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	51	ccomp	_	_
56	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
57	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	obj	_	_
59	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
60	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
61	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** | past · progressive | stepsister | girl |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | past | girl | girl's work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is** | past | the cow house |  |  |  | time | dirty *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **feed** | participle · passive |  | the cows |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient |
| 5 | **beat** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **kick** | past | cows *= cow* |  |  | the pail |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **try** | past | cows *= cow* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **butt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | cows *= cow* *not said here* | girl |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent she=Instrument |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | everyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 10 | **not** **see** | past · perfect | cows *= cow* | such thin cows or such poor milk |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cow=Stimulus |
| 11 | **work** |  | girl |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=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:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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