---
title: But who really invented the stories nobody knows; it is all so long… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But who really invented the stories nobody knows; it is all so long ago, long before reading and writing were invented. Who acts: nobody, opinion. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Violet Fairy Book, sentence 24

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But who really invented the stories nobody knows; it is all so long ago, long before reading and writing were invented.

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**Who acts:** nobody, opinion · **What happens:** invent, know, be, read, write · **To what, where:** stories

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nobody, opinion), 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:pg641:1:24
# text = But who really invented the stories nobody knows; it is all so long ago, long before reading and writing were invented.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
3	really	really	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	invented	invent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
8	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	all	all	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
18	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **invent** | past |  | the stories |  |  |  | long *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Result |
| 2 | **know** | present | nobody | the stories *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | present | opinion |  |  |  |  | ago, all, long *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **read** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **write** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **invent** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V» |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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