---
title: ‘My flock is the nearest,’ observed the eldest brother; ‘we will lea… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘My flock is the nearest,’ observed the eldest brother; ‘we will leave him in the fold for the night, and to-morrow we will decide which pastures will be best for him.’ Who acts: flock, we, pastures. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12, with its depende
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 30

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‘My flock is the nearest,’ observed the eldest brother; ‘we will leave him in the fold for the night, and to-morrow we will decide which pastures will be best for him.’

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**Who acts:** flock, we, pastures · **What happens:** be, observe, leave, decide · **To what, where:** eldest brother, ram, fold · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flock, we, pastures), 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:pg3454:12:30
# text = ‘My flock is the nearest,’ observed the eldest brother; ‘we will leave him in the fold for the night, and to-morrow we will decide which pastures will be best for him.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
9	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	12	amod	_	_
12	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fold	fold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	morrow	morrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
30	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	decide	decide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
33	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	34	det	_	_
34	pastures	pasture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
35	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	cop	_	_
37	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	ccomp	_	_
38	for	for	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | My flock |  |  |  |  | near *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **observe** | past |  | the eldest brother |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent brother=Topic |
| 3 | **leave** | future | we | ram |  | the fold | night |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme in fold=Location |
| 4 | **decide** | future | we |  |  |  |  | to morrow | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | future | which pastures |  |  |  |  | for ram; good *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 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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