---
title: If I have never yet handled either the plough or the scythe, at leas… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If I have never yet handled either the plough or the scythe, at least I have often watched the country people work them, and know how easy it is.’ Who acts: I, people, country. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Grateful Prince, part 1, sentence 118

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If I have never yet handled either the plough or the scythe, at least I have often watched the country people work them, and know how easy it is.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, people, country · **What happens:** not handle, watch, work, know, be · **To what, where:** plough, country, least · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, people, country), 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:pg641:9:118
# text = If I have never yet handled either the plough or the scythe, at least I have often watched the country people work them, and know how easy it is.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	handled	handle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc:preconj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	plough	plough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	scythe	scythe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	obl	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	often	often	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	work	work	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
28	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
29	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	NFP	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **handle** | present · perfect | I | the plough or the scythe |  |  | yet |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plough=Theme |
| 2 | **watch** | present · perfect | I | the country |  | least |  | often *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent country=Theme |
| 3 | **work** | present | people | plough |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent they=Material |
| 4 | **know** | present | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | present | country |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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