---
title: Now Moti had never been on a horse in his life, and had so much ado… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now Moti had never been on a horse in his life, and had so much ado to hold on with both hands as well as with both legs that the animal went just where it liked, and very soon broke into a break-neck gallop and made straight back to the serai where it had spent the last few nights. Who acts: Moti, 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now Moti had never been on a horse in his life, and had so much ado to hold on with both hands as well as with both legs that the animal went just where it liked, and very soon broke into a break-neck gallop and made straight back to the serai where it had spent the last few nights.

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**Who acts:** Moti, much ado, animal · **What happens:** have, not be, hold on, go, like, break · **To what, where:** life, much ado, legs, neck gallop, animal

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Moti, much ado, animal), 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:pg3454:15:54
# text = Now Moti had never been on a horse in his life, and had so much ado to hold on with both hands as well as with both legs that the animal went just where it liked, and very soon broke into a break-neck gallop and made straight back to the serai where it had spent the last few nights.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ado	ado	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
23	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
24	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	19	advmod	_	_
25	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	fixed	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	det	_	_
29	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	obj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
34	just	just	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	37	advmod	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	very	very	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	42	advmod	_	_
42	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
43	into	into	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
45	break	break	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	_
48	gallop	gallop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
51	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	back	back	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
53	to	to	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	serai	serai	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
56	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	59	advmod	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	55	acl:relcl	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
61	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
62	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Moti |  |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | participle |  |  |  | Moti's life |  | on a horse | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | Moti *not said here* | much ado |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold on** | to-infinitive | much ado *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with both hands; as both legs | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **go** | past | the animal | both legs |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location that=Theme |
| 6 | **like** | past | animal |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 7 | **break** | past |  |  |  |  |  | into a neck gallop *result*; soon *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into gallop=Result |
| 8 | **make** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to the serai | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 9 | **spend** | past · perfect · passive |  | animal |  |  | night |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset |

<!-- .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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