---
title: All day long, while he was herding the cows, he thought and thought… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: All day long, while he was herding the cows, he thought and thought how he was to call the colt, for he felt sure that once on its back he could overcome the other dangers. Who acts: colt. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 27, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All day long, while he was herding the cows, he thought and thought how he was to call the colt, for he felt sure that once on its back he could overcome the other dangers.

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**Who acts:** colt · **What happens:** herd, think, be, feel, overcome · **To what, where:** cows, other dangers · **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 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (colt), 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:pg3454:27:4
# text = All day long, while he was herding the cows, he thought and thought how he was to call the colt, for he felt sure that once on its back he could overcome the other dangers.
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	herding	herd	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
16	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	colt	colt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
27	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	35	advmod	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	overcome	overcome	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	dangers	danger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **herd** | past · progressive | colt | the cows |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent cow=Patient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | colt |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | colt *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | colt |  |  |  |  | call *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **feel** | past | colt |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **overcome** | could | colt | the other dangers |  |  |  | once *property* | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot danger=Theme |

<!-- .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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