---
title: And the way this was, was that he was only at home at night, and wou… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And the way this was, was that he was only at home at night, and would never have any light in the house. Who acts: this, way. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 4, sentence 23

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And the way this was, was that he was only at home at night, and would never have any light in the house.

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**Who acts:** this, way · **What happens:** be, not have · **To what, where:** way, home, light, house

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, way), 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:pg14241:18:23
# text = And the way this was, was that he was only at home at night, and would never have any light in the house.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:outer	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	acl:relcl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
21	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | this | the way *not said here* |  | home | night |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **have** | would | the way | any light |  | the house |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Patient |

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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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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