---
title: In old times this was not so; the jelly-fish had as hard a shell as… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In old times this was not so; the jelly-fish had as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through his own fault, as may be seen in this story. Who acts: this, jelly fish, he, his. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Monkey and the Jelly-fish, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Monkey and the Jelly-fish, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In old times this was not so; the jelly-fish had as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through his own fault, as may be seen in this story.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** this, jelly fish, he, his · **What happens:** not be, have, lose, see, fault · **To what, where:** shell, beach, own fault, story

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Monkey and the Jelly-fish. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, jelly fish, he, his), 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:pg641:32:2
# text = In old times this was not so; the jelly-fish had as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through his own fault, as may be seen in this story.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	jelly	jelly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	through	through	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	fault	fault	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	det	_	_
38	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | this |  |  |  | time | so *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | the jelly fish | a shell |  |  |  | as any | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shell=Patient |
| 3 | **lose** | past | he | beach |  | his own fault |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **see** | may · passive | he *not said here* |  |  | this story |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **fault** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom fault «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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