---
title: There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; h… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; he served in the war, and bore himself bravely and well; but when the war was over, he got his discharge, and set out on his travels with three farthings of his pay in his pocket. Who acts: man, war. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy B
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World, part 1, sentence 1

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There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; he served in the war, and bore himself bravely and well; but when the war was over, he got his discharge, and set out on his travels with three farthings of his pay in his pocket.

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**Who acts:** man, war · **What happens:** be, understand, serve, bear, get, set out · **To what, where:** sorts, man, discharge, arts, pocket

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, war), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg640:19:1
# text = There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; he served in the war, and bore himself bravely and well; but when the war was over, he got his discharge, and set out on his travels with three farthings of his pay in his pocket.
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	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	arts	art	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	bravely	bravely	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
34	over	over	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	discharge	discharge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	travels	travel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	advcl	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	49	nummod	_	_
49	farthings	farthing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	pay	pay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	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 | **understand** | past | a man | all sorts of arts |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer sort=Stimulus |
| 3 | **serve** | past | man |  |  |  |  | in the war | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent in war=Attribute |
| 4 | **bear** | past | man *not said here* | man |  |  |  | bravely *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | the war |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | past | man | man's discharge |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer discharge=Stimulus |
| 7 | **set out** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **travel** | present | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with three farthings of man's pay in man's pocket | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **sort** |  |  | arts |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **discharge** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom discharge «event transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **pay** |  | man |  |  | man's pocket |  |  | nom pay «possession transitive»: poss=agent in=place |

<!-- .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:** «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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