---
title: There was an old soldier who had been long in the wars--so long, tha… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was an old soldier who had been long in the wars--so long, that he was quite out-at-elbows, and he did not know where to go to find a living. Who acts: old soldier, soldier. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack Hannaford, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Jack Hannaford, sentence 1

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There was an old soldier who had been long in the wars--so long, that he was quite out-at-elbows, and he did not know where to go to find a living.

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**Who acts:** old soldier, soldier · **What happens:** be, not know, go, find · **To what, where:** wars, elbows, living · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack Hannaford. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old soldier, soldier), 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:pg7439:13:1
# text = There was an old soldier who had been long in the wars--so long, that he was quite out-at-elbows, and he did not know where to go to find a living.
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	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	cop	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	wars	war	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	out	out	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
32	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	34	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a old soldier |  |  | there |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past · perfect | a old soldier |  |  | the wars |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | soldier |  |  | elbows |  | out *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | soldier |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **find** | to-infinitive |  | a living |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent living=Topic |

<!-- .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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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