---
title: The lad answered: ‘I watched the date tree till the cocks were crowi… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The lad answered: ‘I watched the date tree till the cocks were crowing and it was getting light; then I lay down for a little, and I slept. Who acts: lad, I, cocks, bird. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lad answered: ‘I watched the date tree till the cocks were crowing and it was getting light; then I lay down for a little, and I slept.

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**Who acts:** lad, I, cocks, bird · **What happens:** answer, watch, crow, get, lie down, sleep · **To what, where:** date tree, light · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lad, I, cocks, bird), 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:pg641:29:30
# text = The lad answered: ‘I watched the date tree till the cocks were crowing and it was getting light; then I lay down for a little, and I slept.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	crowing	crow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
20	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
25	down	down	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	slept	sleep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the lad |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | past | I | the date tree |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 3 | **crow** | past · progressive | the cocks |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **get** | past · progressive | bird | light |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer light=Stimulus |
| 5 | **lie down** | past | I |  |  |  | then | for a little; down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **sleep** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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