---
title: It would be little indeed that I am fit for if I cannot drive three… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It would be little indeed that I am fit for if I cannot drive three cows out to pasture and keep them safe from the wolves that may come down from the mountains. Who acts: Counsel, I, wolves. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would be little indeed that I am fit for if I cannot drive three cows out to pasture and keep them safe from the wolves that may come down from the mountains.

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**Who acts:** Counsel, I, wolves · **What happens:** be, not drive out, pasture, keep, come down · **To what, where:** three cows, cows, mountains

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Counsel, I, wolves), 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:pg3027:30:10
# text = It would be little indeed that I am fit for if I cannot drive three cows out to pasture and keep them safe from the wolves that may come down from the mountains.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	fit	fit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
10	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	csubj	_	_
16	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	out	out	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	pasture	pasture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
29	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl:relcl	_	_
31	down	down	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | Counsel |  |  |  |  | little *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | fit, indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **drive out** *a condition, not said to happen* | can | I | three cows |  |  |  | out *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme |
| 4 | **pasture** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **keep** | infinitive | I *not said here* | cows *= cow* |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 6 | **come down** | may | the wolves |  |  | the mountains |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from mountain=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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