---
title: One day, when we was wandering about he beheld a nice fat sheep, whi… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, when we was wandering about he beheld a nice fat sheep, which was cropping the grass and seemed quite contented with her lot. Who acts: we, jackal, nice fat sheep. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 19, sentence 17

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One day, when we was wandering about he beheld a nice fat sheep, which was cropping the grass and seemed quite contented with her lot.

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**Who acts:** we, jackal, nice fat sheep · **What happens:** wonder, behold, crop, seem, content · **To what, where:** nice fat sheep, grass · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, jackal, nice fat sheep), 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:pg3027:19:17
# text = One day, when we was wandering about he beheld a nice fat sheep, which was cropping the grass and seemed quite contented with her lot.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	cropping	crop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	acl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
23	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	contented	content	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | we |  |  |  | day |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **behold** | past | jackal | a nice fat sheep |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sheep=Stimulus |
| 3 | **crop** | past · progressive | a nice fat sheep | the grass |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |
| 4 | **seem** | past | jackal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **content** | participle | jackal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with Contes's lot | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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