--- title: They longed to steal a few of the lambs, and approached the flock, a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: They longed to steal a few of the lambs, and approached the flock, and were more than startled to recognise Mr. Simon, whom they had drowned in the river, as the shepherd who was looking after the sheep. Who acts: sheep, shepherd. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/107/) [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 Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Biter Bit, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/) / 107 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 107 They longed to steal a few of the lambs, and approached the flock, and were more than startled to recognise Mr. Simon, whom they had drowned in the river, as the shepherd who was looking after the sheep. **Who acts:** sheep, shepherd · **What happens:** long, steal, approach, be, startle, recognise · **To what, where:** few, flock, Simon, river This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, 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 (sheep, shepherd), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:26:107 # text = They longed to steal a few of the lambs, and approached the flock, and were more than startled to recognise Mr. Simon, whom they had drowned in the river, as the shepherd who was looking after the sheep. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 longed long VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 to to PART TO _ 4 mark _ _ 4 steal steal VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 xcomp _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 obj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 lambs lamb NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 approached approach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 flock flock NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 18 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 2 conj _ _ 19 than than SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 20 startled startle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 advcl _ _ 21 to to PART TO _ 22 mark _ _ 22 recognise recognise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 xcomp _ _ 23 Mr. Mr. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 24 nmod:desc _ _ 24 Simon Simon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 28 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 drowned drown VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 acl:relcl _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 as as ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 shepherd shepherd NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 37 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 39 nsubj _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 acl:relcl _ _ 40 after after ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 sheep sheep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **long** | past | sheep | | | | | | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 2 | **steal** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sheep *not said here* | a few of the lambs | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location few=Theme | | 3 | **approach** | past | sheep *not said here* | the flock | | | | | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flock=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | sheep *not said here* | | | | | more *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **startle** | participle | sheep *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **recognise** | to-infinitive | sheep *not said here* | Simon Mr. | | | | as the shepherd | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer simon=Stimulus as shepherd=Attribute | | 7 | **drown** | past · perfect · passive | | Simon Mr. | | the river | | | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 8 | **look** | past · progressive | the shepherd | | | | after the sheep | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | 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. **Text:** «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 106](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/106/) - next →: [sentence 108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/108/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/)