---
title: But he always feeds at some distance from the rest of the flock, and… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But he always feeds at some distance from the rest of the flock, and it would take me a long time to catch him.' Who acts: shepherd, it. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/18/21/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/18/) / 21

# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 18, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he always feeds at some distance from the rest of the flock, and it would take me a long time to catch him.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** shepherd, it · **What happens:** feed, take, catch · **To what, where:** me, shepherd

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shepherd, it), 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:pg3027:18:21
# text = But he always feeds at some distance from the rest of the flock, and it would take me a long time to catch him.'
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	feeds	feed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feed** | present | shepherd |  |  |  |  | at some distance from the rest of the flock; always *property* | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **take** | would | it |  | me |  | time |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument i=Destination |
| 3 | **catch** | to-infinitive |  | shepherd |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/18/20/)
- next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/18/22/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/18/)