---
title: He spared his horse only so much as was needful, yet it took him six… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He spared his horse only so much as was needful, yet it took him six days to reach the spot where the plant grew. Who acts: deal, it, plant. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 38, sentence 50

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He spared his horse only so much as was needful, yet it took him six days to reach the spot where the plant grew.

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**Who acts:** deal, it, plant · **What happens:** spare, be, take, reach, grow · **To what, where:** horse, deal, spot

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (deal, it, plant), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3027:38:50
# text = He spared his horse only so much as was needful, yet it took him six days to reach the spot where the plant grew.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spared	spare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	needful	needful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spare** | past | deal |  | deal's horse |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent horse=Recipient much=Asset |
| 2 | **is** | past | deal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | needful *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | past | it |  | deal |  | day |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |
| 4 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | the spot |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent spot=Theme |
| 5 | **grow** | past | the plant |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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