---
title: And they began to eat the grass by the side of the stream, while Cov… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And they began to eat the grass by the side of the stream, while Covan listened to them and longed for some supper also, for they had travelled far, and his limbs were weak under him. Who acts: cows, Covan, limbs. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30, with its depen
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 106

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they began to eat the grass by the side of the stream, while Covan listened to them and longed for some supper also, for they had travelled far, and his limbs were weak under him.

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**Who acts:** cows, Covan, limbs · **What happens:** begin, eat, listen, long, travell, be · **To what, where:** grass, cows

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (cows, Covan, limbs), 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:pg3027:30:106
# text = And they began to eat the grass by the side of the stream, while Covan listened to them and longed for some supper also, for they had travelled far, and his limbs were weak under him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	Covan	Covan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	longed	long	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	also	also	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	travelled	travell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
31	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	limbs	limb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
38	under	under	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | cows *= cow* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **eat** | to-infinitive | cows *= cow* *not said here* | the grass |  |  |  | by the side of the stream | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |
| 3 | **listen** | past | Covan |  | cows *= cow* |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to they=Theme |
| 4 | **long** | past | Covan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for some supper | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for supper=Theme |
| 5 | **travell** | past · perfect | cows *= cow* |  |  |  |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | son's limbs |  |  |  |  | under son; weak *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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