---
title: If milk flows, it is a sign that we are well and prosperous; but if,… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If milk flows, it is a sign that we are well and prosperous; but if, instead of milk, there is blood, then we are either dead or in great danger.’ Who acts: milk, we. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/138/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/) / 138

# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 138

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If milk flows, it is a sign that we are well and prosperous; but if, instead of milk, there is blood, then we are either dead or in great danger.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** milk, we · **What happens:** flow, be · **To what, where:** sign

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (milk, we), 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:pg5615:22:138
# text = If milk flows, it is a sign that we are well and prosperous; but if, instead of milk, there is blood, then we are either dead or in great danger.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	flows	flow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	prosperous	prosperous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	21	case	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	fixed	_	_
21	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
23	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	24	expl	_	_
24	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
25	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc:preconj	_	_
31	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
32	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | milk |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | milk | a sign |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | we | a sign *not said here* |  |  |  | prosperous, well *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | milk |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | present | we |  |  |  | then | dead *property* | 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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 137](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/137/)
- next →: [sentence 139](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/139/)
- ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/)