--- title: But the woman thought it was easier to get the cow up the ladder tha… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But the woman thought it was easier to get the cow up the ladder than to get the grass down, so she pushed her and coaxed her and got her up, and tied a string round her neck, and passed it down the chimney, and fastened it to her own wrist. Who acts: woman, cow. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/32/) [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/) / [English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/) / [The Three Sillies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/) / 32 # English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies, sentence 32 But the woman thought it was easier to get the cow up the ladder than to get the grass down, so she pushed her and coaxed her and got her up, and tied a string round her neck, and passed it down the chimney, and fastened it to her own wrist. **Who acts:** woman, cow · **What happens:** think, be, get up, get down, push, coax · **To what, where:** cow, grass, woman, string · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Three Sillies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, cow), 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:pg7439:7:32 # text = But the woman thought it was easier to get the cow up the ladder than to get the grass down, so she pushed her and coaxed her and got her up, and tied a string round her neck, and passed it down the chimney, and fastened it to her own wrist. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 expl _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 7 easier easy ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 4 ccomp _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 xcomp _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 cow cow NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 up up ADP RP _ 9 compound:prt _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 ladder ladder NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 15 than than SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 20 down down ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 so so ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 23 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 pushed push VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 25 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 coaxed coax VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 28 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 31 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ _ 32 up up ADP RP _ 30 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 tied tie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 string string NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 round round ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 passed pass VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 44 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 obj _ _ 45 down down ADP RP _ 43 compound:prt _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 chimney chimney NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 fastened fasten VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 51 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obj _ _ 52 to to ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 53 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 55 nmod:poss _ _ 54 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 55 wrist wrist NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the woman | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is** | past | | | | | | easy *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **get up** | to-infinitive | | the cow | | | | the ladder *obl* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cow=Stimulus | | 4 | **get down** | to-infinitive | | the grass | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **push** | past | cow | woman | | | | | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | | 6 | **coax** | past | cow *not said here* | cow | | | | | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient | | 7 | **get up** | past | cow *not said here* | cow | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus | | 8 | **tie** | past | the woman *not said here* | a string | | | | round cow's neck | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent string=Patient | | 9 | **pass down** | past | | grass | | | | the chimney *obl* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Trajectory | | 10 | **fasten** | past | the woman *not said here* | grass | | | | to cow's own wrist | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent it=Patient to wrist=Co-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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/31/) - next →: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/33/) - ↑ back to [The Three Sillies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/)