---
title: There was once a king and a queen, as many a one has been; few have… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a king and a queen, as many a one has been; few have we seen, and as few may we see. Who acts: few, we. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 14, sentence 72

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There was once a king and a queen, as many a one has been; few have we seen, and as few may we see.

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**Who acts:** few, we · **What happens:** be, have, see

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (few, we), 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:pg14241:28:72
# text = There was once a king and a queen, as many a one has been; few have we seen, and as few may we see.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	nsubj	_	_
18	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	obl	_	_
25	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | few *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | present | few |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | participle | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **see** | may | we |  |  |  |  | as few | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as few=Attribute |

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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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