---
title: There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served t… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer because of the many wounds which he had received. Who acts: soldier, war. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Blue Light, with its depende
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Blue Light, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer because of the many wounds which he had received.

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**Who acts:** soldier, war · **What happens:** be, serve, come, receive · **To what, where:** king, end, many wounds

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Blue Light. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier, war), 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:pg2591:46:1
# text = There was once upon a time a soldier who for many years had served the king faithfully, but when the war came to an end could serve no longer because of the many wounds which he had received.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	faithfully	faithfully	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
20	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	23	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	serve	serve	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
29	no	no	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	28	advmod	_	_
31	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	fixed	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	wounds	wound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	received	receive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past |  |  |  | there | time | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **serve** | past · perfect | a soldier | the king |  |  | year | faithfully *property* | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Attribute |
| 3 | **come** | past | the war |  |  |  | to a end |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to end=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **serve** | could |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **receive** | past · perfect · passive |  | the many wounds |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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