---
title: So at last her eldest brother went to the Warlock Merlin and told hi… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So at last her eldest brother went to the Warlock Merlin and told him all the case, and asked him if he knew where Burd Ellen was. Who acts: Childe, Burd. 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 5

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So at last her eldest brother went to the Warlock Merlin and told him all the case, and asked him if he knew where Burd Ellen was.

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**Who acts:** Childe, Burd · **What happens:** go, tell, ask, know, be · **To what, where:** Warlock Merlin, case, Childe · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Childe, Burd), 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:pg7439:24:5
# text = So at last her eldest brother went to the Warlock Merlin and told him all the case, and asked him if he knew where Burd Ellen was.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
3	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Warlock	Warlock	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Merlin	Merlin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	17	det:predet	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	iobj	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
25	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	28	advmod	_	_
26	Burd	Burd	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	Ellen	Ellen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	flat	_	_
28	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past |  |  |  | the Warlock Merlin |  | at Burd's last eldest brother | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to merlin=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  | all case | Childe |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient case=Topic |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | Childe |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Childe |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **be** | past | Burd |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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