--- title: A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, "Once on a time when… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, "Once on a time when a' muckle folk were wee and a' lees were true," while Mr. Lang gives us "There was a king and a queen as mony ane's been, few have we seen and as few may we see." Who acts: Scotch formula, muckle folk, lees, Lang. A sentence of «Mo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/34/39/) [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 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/34/) / 39 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 20, sentence 39 A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, "Once on a time when a' muckle folk were wee and a' lees were true," while Mr. Lang gives us "There was a king and a queen as mony ane's been, few have we seen and as few may we see." **Who acts:** Scotch formula, muckle folk, lees, Lang, king, few · **What happens:** report, run, be, give, see · **To what, where:** Scotch formula, us, few · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Scotch formula, muckle folk, lees, Lang), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:34:39 # text = A Scotch formula reported by Mrs. Balfour runs, "Once on a time when a' muckle folk were wee and a' lees were true," while Mr. Lang gives us "There was a king and a queen as mony ane's been, few have we seen and as few may we see." 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 Scotch scotch ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 formula formula NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 4 reported report VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 acl _ _ 5 by by ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 Mrs. Mrs. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 obl:agent _ _ 7 Balfour Balfour PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 flat _ _ 8 runs run VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 10 " " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 Once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 8 advmod _ _ 12 on on ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ _ 18 muckle muckle NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 compound _ _ 19 folk folk NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 20 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 21 wee wee ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 advcl _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 27 punct _ _ 25 lees lee NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 26 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 27 true true ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 " " PUNCT '' _ 21 punct _ _ 30 while while SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 31 Mr. Mr. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 nmod:desc _ _ 32 Lang Lang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 33 nsubj _ _ 33 gives give VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 34 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 iobj _ _ 35 " " PUNCT `` _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 37 expl _ _ 37 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 ccomp _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nsubj _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 queen queen NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 conj _ _ 43 as as SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 44 mony mony NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 ane ane NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 47 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 42 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 49 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 nsubj:pass _ _ 50 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 52 aux _ _ 51 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 52 nsubj _ _ 52 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 acl:relcl _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 54 as as ADV RB _ 55 advmod _ _ 55 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 nsubj _ _ 56 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 58 aux _ _ 57 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 58 nsubj _ _ 58 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 52 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 " " PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **report** | participle | | a Scotch formula *not said here* | | | | | vn characterize-29.2-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **run** | present | a Scotch formula | | | | | once *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | a muckle folk | | | | | wee *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | past | lees | | | | | true *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **give** | present | Lang Mr. | | us | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **be** *in a quote* | past | a king and a queen | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive | | few | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus | | 8 | **see** *in a quote* | may | few | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/34/38/) - next →: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/34/40/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/34/)