---
title: “Oh, nonsense; what do you know about it?” answered the cow, who alw… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Oh, nonsense; what do you know about it?” answered the cow, who always thought she was wiser than other people. Who acts: you, cow. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 45

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“Oh, nonsense; what do you know about it?” answered the cow, who always thought she was wiser than other people.

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**Who acts:** you, cow · **What happens:** know, answer, think, be · **To what, where:** nonsense · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, cow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:21:45
# text = “Oh, nonsense; what do you know about it?” answered the cow, who always thought she was wiser than other people.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	nonsense	nonsense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
7	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
14	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	20	advmod	_	_
20	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	ccomp	_	_
24	than	than	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | nonsense |  |  |  | about nonsense | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: ask* | past | the cow |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the cow |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | cow |  |  |  |  | than other people; wise *property* | tree rules |

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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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