---
title: Centuries of years ago, when almost all this part of the country was… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Centuries of years ago, when almost all this part of the country was wilderness, there was a little boy, who lived in a poor bit of property and his father gave him a little bull-calf, and with it he gave him everything he wanted for it. Who acts: little boy, father. A sentence of «More English Fair
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 16, sentence 77

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Centuries of years ago, when almost all this part of the country was wilderness, there was a little boy, who lived in a poor bit of property and his father gave him a little bull-calf, and with it he gave him everything he wanted for it.

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**Who acts:** little boy, father · **What happens:** be, live, give, want · **To what, where:** part wilderness, poor bit, little bull calf, boy, everything

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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 (little boy, father), 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:pg14241:30:77
# text = Centuries of years ago, when almost all this part of the country was wilderness, there was a little boy, who lived in a poor bit of property and his father gave him a little bull-calf, and with it he gave him everything he wanted for it.
1	Centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	nmod	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
7	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	18	expl	_	_
18	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	iobj	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
37	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
38	bull	bull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	iobj	_	_
48	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	46	obj	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	acl:relcl	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | part wilderness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | a little boy |  |  | there |  | ago *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **live** | past | a little boy |  |  | a poor bit of property |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in bit=Location |
| 4 | **give** | past | boy's father | a little bull calf | boy |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient calf=Theme |
| 5 | **give** | past | father | everything | boy |  |  | with Calf | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient everything=Theme |
| 6 | **want** | past | father |  |  |  |  | for Calf | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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