---
title: Once upon a time, when all big folks were wee ones and all lies were… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time, when all big folks were wee ones and all lies were true, there was a wee, wee Mannie that had a big, big Coo. Who acts: big folks, wee ones, wee. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/30/128/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/30/) / 128

# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 16, sentence 128

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once upon a time, when all big folks were wee ones and all lies were true, there was a wee, wee Mannie that had a big, big Coo.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** big folks, wee ones, wee · **What happens:** be, have · **To what, where:** wee ones, big big Coo

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big folks, wee ones, wee), 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:pg14241:30:128
# text = Once upon a time, when all big folks were wee ones and all lies were true, there was a wee, wee Mannie that had a big, big Coo.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	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	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
8	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	folks	folk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	lies	lie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	20	expl	_	_
20	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	wee	wee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	wee	wee	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	Mannie	Mannie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	appos	_	_
26	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
29	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	Coo	coo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | all big folks | wee ones and all lies |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | wee ones and all lies |  |  |  | time | once, true *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | past | a wee |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | past | a wee | a big big Coo |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coo=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/30/127/)
- next →: [sentence 129](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/30/129/)
- ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/30/)