---
title: It was the spring, and just the time of year when the dwarfs held th… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the spring, and just the time of year when the dwarfs held their fete, so one day the brownie asked Jegu if he might bring his friends to have supper in the great barn, and whether he would allow them to dance there. Who acts: chance, dwarfs, brownie, Jegu. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the spring, and just the time of year when the dwarfs held their fete, so one day the brownie asked Jegu if he might bring his friends to have supper in the great barn, and whether he would allow them to dance there.

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**Who acts:** chance, dwarfs, brownie, Jegu · **What happens:** be, hold, ask, bring, have, allow · **To what, where:** spring, fete, Jegu, friends, supper, great barn

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chance, dwarfs, brownie, Jegu), 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:pg3454:38:4
# text = It was the spring, and just the time of year when the dwarfs held their fete, so one day the brownie asked Jegu if he might bring his friends to have supper in the great barn, and whether he would allow them to dance there.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	dwarfs	dwarf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	fete	fete	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	brownie	brownie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
25	Jegu	Jegu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	iobj	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
34	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	iobj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
48	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | chance | the spring and the time of year |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hold** | past | the dwarfs | dwarfs's fete |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fete=Theme |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the brownie |  | Jegu |  | day |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent jegu=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bring** *a condition, not said to happen* | might | Jegu |  | Jegu's friends |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument friend=Destination |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive | Jegu *not said here* | supper |  | the great barn |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supper=Patient |
| 6 | **allow** | would | Jegu |  | friends *= friend* |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer they=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **dance** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Jegu *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **fete** |  | dwarfs *= dwarf* |  |  |  |  |  | nom fete «event transitive»: poss=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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