---
title: There was once a very learned man in the north-country who knew all… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a very learned man in the north-country who knew all the languages under the sun, and who was acquainted with all the mysteries of creation. Who acts: learned man, north country. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Master and His Pupil, with its dependency tree a
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The Master and His Pupil, sentence 1

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There was once a very learned man in the north-country who knew all the languages under the sun, and who was acquainted with all the mysteries of creation.

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**Who acts:** learned man, north country · **What happens:** be, learn, know, acquaint · **To what, where:** languages, sun

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Master and His Pupil. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (learned man, north country), 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:pg7439:18:1
# text = There was once a very learned man in the north-country who knew all the languages under the sun, and who was acquainted with all the mysteries of creation.
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	17	det:predet	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	under	under	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	acquainted	acquaint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	mysteries	mystery	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	creation	creation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a learned man in the north country |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **learn** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** | past | the north country | all languages |  | the sun |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 4 | **acquaint** *speech: other* | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | with all mysteries of creation | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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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