---
title: Still, it was Christmas Eve, and besides it was as well not to offen… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Still, it was Christmas Eve, and besides it was as well not to offend him, so the farmer invited him in, and gave him a seat at the table and a wooden spoon like the rest. Who acts: pause, farmer. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 25, with its dependency
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Still, it was Christmas Eve, and besides it was as well not to offend him, so the farmer invited him in, and gave him a seat at the table and a wooden spoon like the rest.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pause, farmer · **What happens:** be, not be, invite, give · **To what, where:** Christmas, seat, table

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pause, farmer), 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:pg3454:25:65
# text = Still, it was Christmas Eve, and besides it was as well not to offend him, so the farmer invited him in, and gave him a seat at the table and a wooden spoon like the rest.
1	Still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	Christmas	Christmas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	Eve	Eve	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
9	besides	besides	ADP	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
12	as	as	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	offend	offend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	invited	invite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	in	in	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	spoon	spoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
38	like	like	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | pause | Christmas |  |  | still |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | pause |  |  |  |  | offend, well *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **invite** | past | the farmer |  | Christmas |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **give** | past | the farmer *not said here* | a seat and a wooden spoon like the rest | Christmas | the table |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Recipient seat=Theme at table=Asset |

<!-- .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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