---
title: Once upon a time there lived a King who had three sons; the two elde… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there lived a King who had three sons; the two elder were learned and bright, but the youngest said very little and appeared somewhat foolish, so he was always known as Dummling. Who acts: youngest. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Dummling and the Three Feather
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Dummling and the Three Feathers, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once upon a time there lived a King who had three sons; the two elder were learned and bright, but the youngest said very little and appeared somewhat foolish, so he was always known as Dummling.

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**Who acts:** youngest · **What happens:** live, have, learn, say, appear, know · **To what, where:** King, three sons, two elder, little · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Dummling and the Three Feathers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (youngest), 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:pg11027:10:1
# text = Once upon a time there lived a King who had three sons; the two elder were learned and bright, but the youngest said very little and appeared somewhat foolish, so he was always known as Dummling.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
6	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	nsubj	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
30	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
36	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	37	advmod	_	_
37	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	Dummling	Dummling	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past |  | a King |  | there | time | once *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme king=Location |
| 2 | **have** | past |  | three sons |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 3 | **learn** | past · passive |  | the two elder |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the youngest | little |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent little=Topic |
| 5 | **appear** | past | the youngest *not said here* |  |  |  |  | foolish *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **know** | past · passive |  | King |  |  |  | as Dummling; always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as dummling=Attribute |

<!-- .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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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