---
title: The only weapon he carried was his staff, and to help him to keep hi… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The only weapon he carried was his staff, and to help him to keep his balance on horseback he had tied to each of his ankles a big stone that nearly touched the ground as he sat astride the little pony. Who acts: only weapon, weapon, horseback. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Th
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The only weapon he carried was his staff, and to help him to keep his balance on horseback he had tied to each of his ankles a big stone that nearly touched the ground as he sat astride the little pony.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** only weapon, weapon, horseback · **What happens:** carry, be, help, keep, tie, touch · **To what, where:** staff, weapon, balance, horseback, big stone

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (only weapon, weapon, horseback), 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:pg3454:16:8
# text = The only weapon he carried was his staff, and to help him to keep his balance on horseback he had tied to each of his ankles a big stone that nearly touched the ground as he sat astride the little pony.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	weapon	weapon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	balance	balance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	horseback	horseback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	ankles	ankle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	appos	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	obj	_	_
32	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
39	astride	astride	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	pony	pony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry** | past | the only weapon |  |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | weapon's staff |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **help** | to-infinitive | the only weapon *not said here* | weapon |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | to-infinitive | weapon *not said here* | weapon's balance |  | horseback |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent balance=Theme on horseback=Location |
| 5 | **tie** | past · perfect · passive | horseback *not said here* | weapon |  |  |  | to each | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to each=Co-Patient |
| 6 | **touch** | past |  | a big stone |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus that=Experiencer ground=Result |
| 7 | **sit** | past | weapon |  |  |  |  | astride the little pony | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent astride pony=Location |
| 8 | **balance** |  | weapon |  |  |  |  |  | nom balance «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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