---
title: In one spot it was so very bad that a mule laden with baggage had go… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In one spot it was so very bad that a mule laden with baggage had got stuck in it, and tug as he might, his master was quite unable to pull him out. Who acts: spot, mule, master. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In one spot it was so very bad that a mule laden with baggage had got stuck in it, and tug as he might, his master was quite unable to pull him out.

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**Who acts:** spot, mule, master · **What happens:** be, lade, get, pull out · **To what, where:** one spot, mule

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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 (spot, mule, master), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:19:90
# text = In one spot it was so very bad that a mule laden with baggage had got stuck in it, and tug as he might, his master was quite unable to pull him out.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
12	laden	lade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	baggage	baggage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
17	stuck	stuck	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	tug	tug	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | spot |  |  | one spot |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lade** | participle |  | a mule *not said here* |  |  |  | with baggage | tree rules |
| 3 | **get** | past · perfect | a mule |  |  |  |  | stuck *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | past | mule's master |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **pull out** | to-infinitive | mule's master *not said here* | mule |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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