--- title: Soon after this a shepherd happened to pass by with his flock, and w… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Soon after this a shepherd happened to pass by with his flock, and while he was slowly following the sheep, who paused here and there by the wayside to browse on the tender grass, he heard a pitiful voice wailing, ‘They insist on my taking her, and I don’t want her, for I am too old, and I really ca --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/96/) [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/) / 96 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 96 Soon after this a shepherd happened to pass by with his flock, and while he was slowly following the sheep, who paused here and there by the wayside to browse on the tender grass, he heard a pitiful voice wailing, ‘They insist on my taking her, and I don’t want her, for I am too old, and I really can’t have her.’ **Who acts:** shepherd, sheep, pitiful voice, my, I · **What happens:** happen, pass, follow, pause, browse, hear · **To what, where:** sheep, tender grass, pitiful voice, noise · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (shepherd, sheep, pitiful voice, my), 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:pg7277:26:96 # text = Soon after this a shepherd happened to pass by with his flock, and while he was slowly following the sheep, who paused here and there by the wayside to browse on the tender grass, he heard a pitiful voice wailing, ‘They insist on my taking her, and I don’t want her, for I am too old, and I really can’t have her.’ 1 Soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 6 advmod _ _ 2 after after ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 3 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 1 obl _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 shepherd shepherd NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 pass pass VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 xcomp _ _ 9 by by ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 with with ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 flock flock NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 15 while while SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 18 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 following follow VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 39 advcl _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 sheep sheep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 24 nsubj _ _ 24 paused pause VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 25 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 24 advmod _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 25 conj _ _ 28 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 wayside wayside NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 browse browse VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 advcl _ _ 33 on on ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 35 tender tender NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 compound _ _ 36 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 pitiful pitiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 43 wailing wail VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 42 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 insist insist VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 conj _ _ 48 on on SCONJ IN _ 50 mark _ _ 49 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 47 advcl _ _ 51 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 54 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 57 nsubj _ _ 55 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 57 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 56 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 57 advmod _ _ 57 want want VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 ccomp _ _ 58 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 64 punct _ _ 60 for for ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 61 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj _ _ 62 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 64 cop _ _ 63 too too ADV RB _ 64 advmod _ _ 64 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 65 , , PUNCT , _ 71 punct _ _ 66 and and CCONJ CC _ 71 cc _ _ 67 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 71 nsubj _ _ 68 really really ADV RB _ 71 advmod _ _ 69 ca can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 71 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 70 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 71 advmod _ _ 71 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 parataxis _ _ 72 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 71 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 73 . . PUNCT . _ 71 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 74 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 71 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **happen** | past | a shepherd | | | | | soon *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | a shepherd *not said here* | | | | | by shepherd's flock | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by flock=Location | | 3 | **follow** | past · progressive | shepherd | the sheep | | | | slowly *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Theme | | 4 | **pause** | past | the sheep | | | here | | by the wayside | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by wayside=Location | | 5 | **browse** | to-infinitive | the sheep *not said here* | | | the tender grass | | | tree rules | | 6 | **hear** | past | shepherd | a pitiful voice | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **wail** | gerund | a pitiful voice *not said here* | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **insist** *speech: other* | present | sheep | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **take** | gerund | my | | noise | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument she=Destination | | 10 | **not** **want** | present · do-support | I | noise | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot she=Theme | | 11 | **is** | present | I | | | | | old *property* | tree rules | | 12 | **not** **have** | can | I | noise | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient | 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 95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/95/) - next →: [sentence 97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/97/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/)