---
title: When he was very nearly home he again thought of the cow that was wi… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he was very nearly home he again thought of the cow that was with calf, so he laid down the money, ran home, and asked his wife whether the cow had calved yet. Who acts: man, cow. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 126

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he was very nearly home he again thought of the cow that was with calf, so he laid down the money, ran home, and asked his wife whether the cow had calved yet.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, cow · **What happens:** be, think, lay down, run, ask, calve · **To what, where:** home, money, wife, cow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, cow), 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:pg5615:16:126
# text = When he was very nearly home he again thought of the cow that was with calf, so he laid down the money, ran home, and asked his wife whether the cow had calved yet.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
21	down	down	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
26	home	home	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	calved	calve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	ccomp	_	_
37	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | man | home |  |  |  | nearly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man |  |  |  | again | of the cow | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the cow |  |  |  |  | with calf | tree rules |
| 4 | **lay down** | past | man | the money |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Result |
| 5 | **run** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man *not said here* |  | man's wife |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **calve** | past · perfect · passive |  | the cow |  |  | yet |  | 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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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