---
title: Half of the herd were already through the fence and cropping the gra… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Half of the herd were already through the fence and cropping the grass on the banks of the stream, but half still remained outside and faded into nothing, even as he watched them. Who acts: Half, husband. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, with its de
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 70

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Half of the herd were already through the fence and cropping the grass on the banks of the stream, but half still remained outside and faded into nothing, even as he watched them.

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**Who acts:** Half, husband · **What happens:** be, crop, remain, fade, watch · **To what, where:** fence, grass, banks, nothing

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Half, husband), 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:pg3282:20:70
# text = Half of the herd were already through the fence and cropping the grass on the banks of the stream, but half still remained outside and faded into nothing, even as he watched them.
1	Half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	9	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	already	already	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	through	through	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	cropping	crop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	24	advmod	_	_
23	still	still	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	parataxis	_	_
25	outside	outside	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	faded	fade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	even	even	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Half of the herd |  |  | the fence |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **crop** | gerund | Half of the herd *not said here* | the grass |  | the banks of the stream |  |  | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |
| 3 | **remain** | participle |  |  |  |  | still | half, outside *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fade** | past |  |  |  | nothing |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **watch** | past | husband | banks *= bank* |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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