---
title: In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as the… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as they had been, and the old man gave orders that some fine houses he was building in the city should be left unfinished, for it would take all the savings to complete them. Who acts: years, crops, old man, man. A sentence of «The Lilac 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as they had been, and the old man gave orders that some fine houses he was building in the city should be left unfinished, for it would take all the savings to complete them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** years, crops, old man, man, it · **What happens:** go on, not be, be, give, build, leave · **To what, where:** way, orders, fine houses, city, savings

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (years, crops, old man, man), 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:pg3454:19:38
# text = In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as they had been, and the old man gave orders that some fine houses he was building in the city should be left unfinished, for it would take all the savings to complete them.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	crops	crop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	been	be	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
26	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	obj	_	_
28	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	30	det	_	_
29	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	building	build	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	acl:relcl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl:relcl	_	_
40	unfinished	unfinished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
46	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	48	det:predet	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	savings	savings	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	45	obj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	complete	complete	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	advcl	_	_
51	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past | the years |  |  | this way |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in way=Location |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | the crops |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | past · perfect | crops *= crop* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | past | the old man | orders |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent order=Theme |
| 5 | **build** | past · progressive | man | some fine houses *not said here* |  | the city |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Product |
| 6 | **leave** | should · passive |  | some fine houses |  |  |  | unfinished *property* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme that=Attribute |
| 7 | **take** | would | it | all savings |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent savings=Theme |
| 8 | **complete** | to-infinitive |  | savings |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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