---
title: But the Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept down to th… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept down to the cowshed and loosened the heads of the cattle which were tied, and they began to kick each other and bellow, and made such a noise that the company in the farmhouse ran out to tie them up again. Who acts: Shifty Lad, Lad, company. 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 112

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But the Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept down to the cowshed and loosened the heads of the cattle which were tied, and they began to kick each other and bellow, and made such a noise that the company in the farmhouse ran out to tie them up again.

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**Who acts:** Shifty Lad, Lad, company · **What happens:** keep, creep down, loosen, tie, begin, kick · **To what, where:** cowshed, heads, cattle, each, noise, Lad

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Shifty Lad, Lad, company), 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:pg3454:1:112
# text = But the Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept down to the cowshed and loosened the heads of the cattle which were tied, and they began to kick each other and bellow, and made such a noise that the company in the farmhouse ran out to tie them up again.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Shifty	shifty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Lad	Lad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	still	still	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	no	no	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	down	down	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	cowshed	cowshed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	loosened	loosen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	kick	kick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	33	obj	_	_
35	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	fixed	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	bellow	bellow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
41	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	43	det:predet	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
44	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	obj	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	farmhouse	farmhouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
51	out	out	ADP	RP	_	50	compound:prt	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	tie	tie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
54	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	up	up	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
56	again	again	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | could | the Shifty Lad |  |  |  | still | long *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **creep down** | past | the Shifty Lad |  |  | the cowshed |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to cowshed=Destination |
| 3 | **loosen** | past | the Shifty Lad *not said here* | the heads of the cattle |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 4 | **tie** | past · passive |  | the cattle |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **begin** | past | Lad |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **kick** | to-infinitive | Lad *not said here* | each |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent each=Patient |
| 7 | **bellow** | present | Lad *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **make** | past | the Shifty Lad *not said here* | such noise |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset noise=Product |
| 9 | **run out** | past | the company in the farmhouse | such noise |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme that=Trajectory |
| 10 | **tie up** | to-infinitive | the company in the farmhouse *not said here* | Lad |  |  | again |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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