---
title: Once upon a time, long long ago, beyond the times that we can call t… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time, long long ago, beyond the times that we can call to mind, ere yet our great-grandfathers or their grandfathers had been born into the world, there lived a poor man and his wife, and they had one only son, who was not as an only son ought to be to his old father and mother. Who acts
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, Oh: the Tsar of the Forest, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once upon a time, long long ago, beyond the times that we can call to mind, ere yet our great-grandfathers or their grandfathers had been born into the world, there lived a poor man and his wife, and they had one only son, who was not as an only son ought to be to his old father and mother.

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**Who acts:** we, grandfathers, one son · **What happens:** call, mind, bear, live, have, not be · **To what, where:** times, great grandfathers, world, poor man, one son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Oh: the Tsar of the Forest. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, grandfathers, one son), 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:pg29672:2:11
# text = Once upon a time, long long ago, beyond the times that we can call to mind, ere yet our great-grandfathers or their grandfathers had been born into the world, there lived a poor man and his wife, and they had one only son, who was not as an only son ought to be to his old father and mother.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	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	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
7	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	mind	mind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
20	ere	ere	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
22	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
23	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	grandfathers	grandfather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	grandfathers	grandfather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
36	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	37	expl	_	_
37	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
48	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	50	nummod	_	_
49	only	only	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
52	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	65	nsubj	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
54	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	65	advmod	_	_
55	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
56	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	nsubj	_	_
59	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	65	aux	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	65	mark	_	_
61	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	65	cop	_	_
62	to	to	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
64	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	appos	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	67	cc	_	_
67	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	37	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | can | we | the times |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mind** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **bear** | past · perfect · passive |  | our great grandfathers or grandfathers's grandfathers |  | the world | yet |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **live** | past |  | a poor man and \_'s wife |  | there | time | ago *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme man=Location |
| 5 | **have** | past | grandfathers *= grandfather* | one son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **is** | ought · past | one son |  |  |  |  | to \_'s old father and mother | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Project Gutenberg book 29672 (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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