---
title: But she would not at first, for he was the last of her children she… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But she would not at first, for he was the last of her children she now had, and if he was lost, all would be lost. Who acts: Merlin, mother. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Childe Rowland, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Childe Rowland, sentence 16

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But she would not at first, for he was the last of her children she now had, and if he was lost, all would be lost.

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**Who acts:** Merlin, mother · **What happens:** be, have, lose · **To what, where:** children, Merlin, all

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Childe Rowland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Merlin, mother), 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:pg7439:24:16
# text = But she would not at first, for he was the last of her children she now had, and if he was lost, all would be lost.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
18	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Merlin |  |  |  |  | for the last; of mother's children | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | mother | mother's children *not said here* |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 3 | **lose** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | Merlin |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **lose** | would · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

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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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