---
title: Among the herd there was a great blue bull, which always kept itself… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Among the herd there was a great blue bull, which always kept itself very smart and sleek, and often came to the King’s daughter and let her stroke him. Who acts: daughter. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Kari Woodengown, part 1, sentence 9

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Among the herd there was a great blue bull, which always kept itself very smart and sleek, and often came to the King’s daughter and let her stroke him.

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**Who acts:** daughter · **What happens:** be, keep, come, let, stroke · **To what, where:** great blue bull, daughter, King

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, 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 (daughter), 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:pg540:29:9
# text = Among the herd there was a great blue bull, which always kept itself very smart and sleek, and often came to the King’s daughter and let her stroke him.
1	Among	among	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	bull	bull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
13	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obj	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	smart	smart	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sleek	sleek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	often	often	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
30	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	stroke	stroke	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | a great blue bull |  |  |  | among the herd | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep** | past |  | a great blue bull |  |  |  | always, smart *property* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent which=Theme itself=Attribute |
| 3 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to the King's daughter; often *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to daughter=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | daughter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stroke** | infinitive | daughter *not said here* | King |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Experiencer |

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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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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