---
title: It was he who ploughed and sowed and reaped, and if, as happened, oc… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was he who ploughed and sowed and reaped, and if, as happened, occasionally, it was needful to get the work done quickly, the brownie called in some of his friends, and as soon as it was light a host of little dwarfs might have been seen in the fields, busy with hoe, fork or sickle. Who acts: far
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 37, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was he who ploughed and sowed and reaped, and if, as happened, occasionally, it was needful to get the work done quickly, the brownie called in some of his friends, and as soon as it was light a host of little dwarfs might have been seen in the fields, busy with hoe, fork or sickle.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** farmer · **What happens:** be, sow, reap, happen, get, do · **To what, where:** work, brownie, some, host, fields · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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:pg3454:37:71
# text = It was he who ploughed and sowed and reaped, and if, as happened, occasionally, it was needful to get the work done quickly, the brownie called in some of his friends, and as soon as it was light a host of little dwarfs might have been seen in the fields, busy with hoe, fork or sickle.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	ploughed	plough	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	sowed	sow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	reaped	reap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	occasionally	occasionally	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	needful	needful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
27	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	brownie	brownie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
31	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
39	as	as	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	44	advmod	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	dwarfs	dwarf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nmod	_	_
50	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
51	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	aux	_	_
52	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	parataxis	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
59	with	with	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	hoe	hoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
62	fork	fork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	_
63	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
64	sickle	sickle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | farmer |  |  |  |  | plough *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sow** | past | farmer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **reap** | past | farmer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | farmer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | occasionally *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | farmer |  |  |  |  | needful *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | to-infinitive | farmer *not said here* | the work and the brownie |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer work=Stimulus |
| 7 | **do** | participle |  | the work and the brownie *not said here* |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **call** | participle |  | the brownie *not said here* |  | some |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is** | past | farmer |  |  |  |  | light, soon *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **see** | might · perfect · passive |  | a host of little dwarfs |  | the fields |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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