---
title: Now a rich farmer who lived up near the moor thought that nothing wa… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now a rich farmer who lived up near the moor thought that nothing was so useful to a young couple when they first began to keep house as a fine fat sheep, so he bade his shepherd go off to the mountain where the flock were feeding, and bring him back the best he could find. Who acts: rich farmer, no
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 19

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Now a rich farmer who lived up near the moor thought that nothing was so useful to a young couple when they first began to keep house as a fine fat sheep, so he bade his shepherd go off to the mountain where the flock were feeding, and bring him back the best he could find.

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**Who acts:** rich farmer, nothing, Gallows, farmer, flock · **What happens:** live up, think, be, begin, keep, bade · **To what, where:** moor, house, shepherd, best, flock

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rich farmer, nothing, Gallows, farmer), 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:pg3454:2:19
# text = Now a rich farmer who lived up near the moor thought that nothing was so useful to a young couple when they first began to keep house as a fine fat sheep, so he bade his shepherd go off to the mountain where the flock were feeding, and bring him back the best he could find.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	near	near	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	moor	moor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	24	advmod	_	_
24	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
31	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	bade	bade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
40	off	off	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
44	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	48	advmod	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
47	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	feeding	feed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	back	back	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	51	obj	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live up** | past | a rich farmer |  |  | the moor |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near moor=Location |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | a rich farmer |  |  |  | now |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  | to a young couple; useful *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **begin** | past | Gallows |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **keep** | to-infinitive | Gallows *not said here* | house |  |  |  | as a fine fat sheep | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 6 | **bade** | past | farmer | farmer's shepherd |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **go off** | infinitive | farmer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the mountain | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **feed** | past · progressive | the flock |  |  |  |  |  | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **bring back** | infinitive | a rich farmer *not said here* | the best | flock |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination good=Theme |
| 10 | **find** | could | flock |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=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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