---
title: They had not very far to go, but Moti’s little pony, weighted with a… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They had not very far to go, but Moti’s little pony, weighted with a heavy man and two big rocks, soon began to lag behind the cavalry, and would have lagged behind the infantry too, only they were not very anxious to be too early in the fight, and hung back so as to give Moti plenty of time. Who ac
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had not very far to go, but Moti’s little pony, weighted with a heavy man and two big rocks, soon began to lag behind the cavalry, and would have lagged behind the infantry too, only they were not very anxious to be too early in the fight, and hung back so as to give Moti plenty of time.

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**Who acts:** ankles · **What happens:** have, go, weight, begin, lag, not be · **To what, where:** little pony, cavalry, infantry, fight, Moti plenty

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ankles), 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:pg3454:16:12
# text = They had not very far to go, but Moti’s little pony, weighted with a heavy man and two big rocks, soon began to lag behind the cavalry, and would have lagged behind the infantry too, only they were not very anxious to be too early in the fight, and hung back so as to give Moti plenty of time.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	pony	pony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	weighted	weight	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
22	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
26	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	lag	lag	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	cavalry	cavalry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	aux	_	_
36	lagged	lag	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	conj	_	_
37	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	infantry	infantry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	too	too	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	only	only	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
44	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	47	advmod	_	_
46	very	very	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	parataxis	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
49	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	cop	_	_
50	too	too	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	advcl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
58	back	back	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
59	so	so	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
60	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
61	to	to	PART	TO	_	62	mark	_	_
62	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	ccomp	_	_
63	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	64	compound	_	_
64	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | ankles *= ankle* |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | ankles *= ankle* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **weight** | participle · passive |  | Moti's little pony |  |  |  | with a heavy man and two big rocks | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: subject=Recipient with man=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **lag** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the cavalry |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **lag** | would · perfect |  |  |  | the infantry |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **is** | past | ankles *= ankle* |  |  |  |  | anxious *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | to-infinitive | ankles *= ankle* *not said here* |  |  | the fight |  | early *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **hang back** | past | ankles *= ankle* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **give** | to-infinitive | ankles *= ankle* *not said here* | Moti plenty of time |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plenty=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 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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