---
title: The cows were standing ready in the place where Covan had left them,… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The cows were standing ready in the place where Covan had left them, and they journeyed on all that day, till, when night fell, they reached the cottage. Who acts: cows, Covan, night. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cows were standing ready in the place where Covan had left them, and they journeyed on all that day, till, when night fell, they reached the cottage.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cows, Covan, night · **What happens:** stand, be, leave, journey, fall, reach · **To what, where:** place, cows, cottage

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. 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, night), 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:pg3027:31:1
# text = The cows were standing ready in the place where Covan had left them, and they journeyed on all that day, till, when night fell, they reached the cottage.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	12	advmod	_	_
10	Covan	Covan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	journeyed	journey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
26	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the cows |  |  | the place |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **leave** | past · perfect | Covan | cows *= cow* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **journey** | past | cows *= cow* |  |  |  | day |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **fall** | past | night |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **reach** | past | cows *= cow* | the cottage |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent cottage=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.

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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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