---
title: Now he would row--and he could row, for he had rowed so often on the… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now he would row--and he could row, for he had rowed so often on the step sat home, when the steps pretended to be a boat and father’s big stick an oar. Who acts: Ditsch, step, steps, father. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 70

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now he would row--and he could row, for he had rowed so often on the step sat home, when the steps pretended to be a boat and father’s big stick an oar.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Ditsch, step, steps, father · **What happens:** row, sit, pretend, be, stick · **To what, where:** boat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ditsch, step, steps, father), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg3454:14:70
# text = Now he would row--and he could row, for he had rowed so often on the step sat home, when the steps pretended to be a boat and father’s big stick an oar.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	row	row	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	row	row	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	rowed	row	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	parataxis	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	often	often	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
17	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
21	home	home	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	26	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	advcl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’s	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	ccomp	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	oar	oar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **row** | would | Ditsch |  |  |  | now |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **row** | could | Ditsch |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **row** | past · perfect | Ditsch |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sit** | past | the step |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **pretend** | past | the steps |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | a boat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **stick** |  | father |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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