---
title: It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plow,… — Tanglewood Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plow, which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so long was it before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of land. A sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., pa
---

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# Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 4, sentence 88

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It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plow, which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so long was it before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of land.

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**What happens:** be, yoke, harness, lie, rust, go by · **To what, where:** bulls, plow, ground, great many years, spell, piece

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This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg976:28:88
# text = It was now easy to yoke the bulls, and to harness them to the plow, which had lain rusting on the ground for a great many years gone by; so long was it before anybody could be found capable of plowing that piece of land.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	yoke	yoke	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bulls	bull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	harness	harness	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	plow	plow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	lain	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	rusting	rust	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	xcomp	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
30	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	41	advmod	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux:pass	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
38	anybody	anybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	41	nsubj	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	aux:pass	_	_
41	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
42	capable	capable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	xcomp	_	_
43	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
44	plowing	plow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
45	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	det	_	_
46	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | now | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **yoke** | to-infinitive |  |  | the bulls |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent bull=Destination |
| 3 | **harness** | to-infinitive |  | bulls *= bull* |  |  |  | to the plow | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient to plow=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **lie** | past · perfect · passive |  | the plow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **rust** | gerund |  |  |  | the ground | year |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **go by** | participle |  | a great many years *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **find** | could · past · passive |  | spell |  |  |  | capable, long *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 8 | **plow** | gerund |  | that piece of land |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent piece=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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:** «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Project Gutenberg book 976 (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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