---
title: This time they passed over a plain so bare that a pin could not have… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This time they passed over a plain so bare that a pin could not have lain there unnoticed, yet Covan beheld with surprise a foal and its mother feeding there, both as fat as if they had pastured on the richest grass. Who acts: cows, pin. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening,
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This time they passed over a plain so bare that a pin could not have lain there unnoticed, yet Covan beheld with surprise a foal and its mother feeding there, both as fat as if they had pastured on the richest grass.

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**Who acts:** cows, pin · **What happens:** pass, not lie, behold, pasture, feed · **To what, where:** plain, pin, foal, richest grass

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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 (cows, pin), 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:pg3027:30:78
# text = This time they passed over a plain so bare that a pin could not have lain there unnoticed, yet Covan beheld with surprise a foal and its mother feeding there, both as fat as if they had pastured on the richest grass.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	lain	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	advcl	_	_
17	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
18	unnoticed	unnoticed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	Covan	Covan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	beheld	behold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	foal	foal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	feeding	feeding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
31	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	nsubj	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
37	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	pastured	pasture	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
41	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	richest	rich	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	44	amod	_	_
44	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | cows *= cow* |  |  | a plain | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over plain=Location |
| 2 | **not** **lie** | could · perfect · passive |  | a pin |  | there |  | unnoticed *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **behold** | participle |  | a foal and pin's mother feeding |  |  |  | with surprise | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer foal=Stimulus |
| 4 | **pasture** | past · perfect | cows *= cow* |  |  | the richest grass |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on grass=Destination |
| 5 | **feed** |  | pin |  |  |  |  |  | nom feeding «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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