---
title: One day, some boys who were minding cows led them near a green mound… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, some boys who were minding cows led them near a green mound among the ruins: and while the cows cropped the grass, the boys played. Who acts: boys, cows. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 1, with its dependenc
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/1/61/)

<!-- 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/) / [Indian tales of the great ones among m…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/1/) / 61

# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 1, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One day, some boys who were minding cows led them near a green mound among the ruins: and while the cows cropped the grass, the boys played.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boys, cows · **What happens:** mind, lead, crop, play · **To what, where:** cows, green mound, grass

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, 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 (boys, cows), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg69647:1:61
# text = One day, some boys who were minding cows led them near a green mound among the ruins: and while the cows cropped the grass, the boys played.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	minding	mind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	near	near	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	mound	mound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	among	among	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	ruins	ruin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	cropped	crop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mind** | past · progressive | some boys | cows |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme |
| 2 | **lead** | past | some boys | cows *= cow* |  | a green mound among the ruins | day |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme near mound=Destination |
| 3 | **crop** | past | the cows | the grass |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Patient |
| 4 | **play** | past | the boys |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Project Gutenberg book 69647 (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 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/1/60/)
- next →: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/1/62/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/1/)