---
title: _--But for the accident of the title being preserved there would hav… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: _--But for the accident of the title being preserved there would have been nothing to show that this tale had been imported into England from Ireland, whither it had probably been carried all the way from India. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LIV. Gobborn Seer, with its d
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, LIV. Gobborn Seer, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
\_--But for the accident of the title being preserved there would have been nothing to show that this tale had been imported into England from Ireland, whither it had probably been carried all the way from India.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** preserve, be, show, import, carry · **To what, where:** title, nothing, tale, England, India · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LIV. Gobborn Seer. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg14241:45:14
# text = _--But for the accident of the title being preserved there would have been nothing to show that this tale had been imported into England from Ireland, whither it had probably been carried all the way from India.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	accident	accident	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	title	title	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	preserved	preserve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
12	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	cop	_	_
16	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	imported	import	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	ccomp	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	whither	whither	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl	_	_
36	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	38	det:predet	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl:unmarked	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **preserve** | gerund · passive |  | the title *not said here* |  | there |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V S\_ING» |
| 2 | **is a** | would · perfect |  | nothing |  |  |  | for the accident of the title | tree rules |
| 3 | **show** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **import** | past · perfect · passive |  | this tale |  | England from Ireland |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | past · perfect · passive |  | tale |  | India |  | all way *obl:unmarked*; probably, whither *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: subject=Theme from india=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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