---
title: It is a long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach i… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is a long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach it, but put on these old brown shoes with holes all over them, and you will be there before you know it. Who acts: road, it, you. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, with its dependency
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is a long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach it, but put on these old brown shoes with holes all over them, and you will be there before you know it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** road, it, you · **What happens:** be, take, reach, put, know · **To what, where:** long road, you, road, old brown shoes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (road, it, you), 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:pg3454:17:12
# text = It is a long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach it, but put on these old brown shoes with holes all over them, and you will be there before you know it.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj	_	_
25	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
30	all	all	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	cop	_	_
38	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
39	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | road | a long road |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | would | it |  | you |  | year |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument you=Destination |
| 3 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | road |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **put** | participle |  |  |  | old brown shoes with holes |  | over holes *= hole* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on shoe=Destination |
| 5 | **is** | future | you |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **know** | present | you | road |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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