---
title: One day, as I was counting the bees, I discovered that my best bee w… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, as I was counting the bees, I discovered that my best bee was missing, and without losing a moment I saddled a cock and went out to look for him. Who acts: I, best bee. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Finest Liar in the World, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One day, as I was counting the bees, I discovered that my best bee was missing, and without losing a moment I saddled a cock and went out to look for him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, best bee · **What happens:** count, discover, be, lose, saddle, go out · **To what, where:** bees, cock

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, best bee), 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:pg641:3:24
# text = One day, as I was counting the bees, I discovered that my best bee was missing, and without losing a moment I saddled a cock and went out to look for him.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	counting	count	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	discovered	discover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	amod	_	_
16	bee	bee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	missing	missing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
21	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	saddled	saddle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
31	out	out	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **count** | past · progressive | I | the bees |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bee=Theme |
| 2 | **discover** | past | I |  |  |  | day |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | my best bee |  |  |  |  | missing *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lose** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  | moment |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **saddle** | past | I |  | a cock |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent cock=Destination |
| 6 | **go out** | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **look** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for man | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=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 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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