---
title: Once on a time and twice on a time, and all times together as ever I… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once on a time and twice on a time, and all times together as ever I heard tell of, there was a tiny lassie who would weep all day to have the stars in the sky to play with; she wouldn't have this, and she wouldn't have that, but it was always the stars she would have. Who acts: I, tiny lassie, star
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 15, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once on a time and twice on a time, and all times together as ever I heard tell of, there was a tiny lassie who would weep all day to have the stars in the sky to play with; she wouldn't have this, and she wouldn't have that, but it was always the stars she would have.

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**Who acts:** I, tiny lassie, stars, lassie, star · **What happens:** hear, tell, be, weep, have, play · **To what, where:** stars, sky, this, that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, tiny lassie, stars, lassie), 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:pg14241:29:91
# text = Once on a time and twice on a time, and all times together as ever I heard tell of, there was a tiny lassie who would weep all day to have the stars in the sky to play with; she wouldn't have this, and she wouldn't have that, but it was always the stars she would have.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	0	root	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	1	conj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
13	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	together	together	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	as	as	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	14	advcl	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
19	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	23	expl	_	_
23	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	lassie	lassie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	weep	weep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl:relcl	_	_
30	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
47	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	53	advmod	_	_
53	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
56	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	cop	_	_
59	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	61	advmod	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obj	_	_
62	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | I |  |  |  | time |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **be** | past | a tiny lassie |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **weep** | would | a tiny lassie |  |  |  | day |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive | a tiny lassie *not said here* | the stars |  | the sky |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **play** | to-infinitive | the stars *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **have** | would | lassie | this |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Patient |
| 8 | **not** **have** | would | lassie | that |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 9 | **is a** | past | star | the stars |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **have** | would | lassie | the stars *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent star=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «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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