---
title: Once upon a time the men of Gotham would have kept the Cuckoo so tha… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time the men of Gotham would have kept the Cuckoo so that she might sing all the year, and in the midst of their town they made a hedge round in compass and they got a Cuckoo, and put her into it, and said, "Sing there all through the year, or thou shalt have neither meat nor water." Who
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 19, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once upon a time the men of Gotham would have kept the Cuckoo so that she might sing all the year, and in the midst of their town they made a hedge round in compass and they got a Cuckoo, and put her into it, and said, "Sing there all through the year, or thou shalt have neither meat nor water."

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**Who acts:** \_, men, thou · **What happens:** keep, sing, make, get, put, say · **To what, where:** men, hedge, midst, Cuckoo, \_, meat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (\_, men, thou), 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:pg14241:33:45
# text = Once upon a time the men of Gotham would have kept the Cuckoo so that she might sing all the year, and in the midst of their town they made a hedge round in compass and they got a Cuckoo, and put her into it, and said, "Sing there all through the year, or thou shalt have neither meat nor water."
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	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	11	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Gotham	Gotham	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
11	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Cuckoo	cuckoo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	18	mark	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	hedge	hedge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	round	round	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	compass	compass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	Cuckoo	cuckoo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
45	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	into	into	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	Sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	ccomp	_	_
54	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	53	advmod	_	_
55	all	all	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
56	through	through	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
60	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
61	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	63	nsubj	_	_
62	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	63	aux	_	_
63	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
64	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	65	det	_	_
65	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	obj	_	_
66	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	67	cc	_	_
67	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	63	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	63	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | would · perfect · passive |  | the men of Gotham |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | might | \_ |  |  |  | year |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 3 | **make** | past | men *= man* | a hedge |  | the midst of men's town |  | in compass; round *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hedge=Product |
| 4 | **get** | past | men *= man* | a Cuckoo |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cuckoo=Stimulus |
| 5 | **put** | past | men *= man* *not said here* |  | \_ | Cuckoo |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent she=Goal |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | there | year |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **have** *in a quote* | shall | thou | neither meat nor water |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=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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