---
title: But a cow she seemed, and a cow she was found to be; and when the ol… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But a cow she seemed, and a cow she was found to be; and when the old woman began to milk her, every pitcher and pan, even to the baler, was soon filled with the most delicious milk. Who acts: cow, old woman. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, with it
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But a cow she seemed, and a cow she was found to be; and when the old woman began to milk her, every pitcher and pan, even to the baler, was soon filled with the most delicious milk.

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**Who acts:** cow, old woman · **What happens:** seem, find, be, begin, fill · **To what, where:** cow, milk

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (cow, old woman), 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:pg3454:24:7
# text = But a cow she seemed, and a cow she was found to be; and when the old woman began to milk her, every pitcher and pan, even to the baler, was soon filled with the most delicious milk.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	21	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	pitcher	pitcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	pan	pan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	even	even	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	baler	baler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
37	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	38	advmod	_	_
38	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	42	advmod	_	_
42	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | a cow |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | past · passive |  | a cow |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 3 | **be** | to-infinitive | a cow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past | the old woman | milk  cow and every pitcher and pan and the baler |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent milk=Eventuality |
| 5 | **fill** | past · passive | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the delicious milk; soon *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: with milk=Instrument |

<!-- .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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