---
title: ‘It is all very fine to possess a cow,’ said Matte, as he cleaned th… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘It is all very fine to possess a cow,’ said Matte, as he cleaned the fish; ‘but what are we going to feed her on?’ Who acts: It, Matte. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘It is all very fine to possess a cow,’ said Matte, as he cleaned the fish; ‘but what are we going to feed her on?’

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**Who acts:** It, Matte · **What happens:** be, possess, say, clean, go, feed on · **To what, where:** cow, fish · **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 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Matte), 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:pg3454:24:10
# text = ‘It is all very fine to possess a cow,’ said Matte, as he cleaned the fish; ‘but what are we going to feed her on?’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	possess	possess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	Matte	Matte	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	cleaned	clean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	nsubj	_	_
25	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	feed	feed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | all, fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **possess** | to-infinitive |  | a cow |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot cow=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Matte |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **clean** | past | Matte | the fish |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent fish=Patient |
| 5 | **go** | present · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **feed on** | to-infinitive |  |  | cow |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |

<!-- .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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