---
title: “The fair Burd Ellen,” said the Warlock Merlin, “must have been carr… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “The fair Burd Ellen,” said the Warlock Merlin, “must have been carried off by the fairies, because she went round the church 'wider shins'--the opposite way to the sun. She is now in the Dark Tower of the King of Elfland; it would take the boldest knight in Christendom to bring her back.” Who acts:
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Childe Rowland, sentence 6

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“The fair Burd Ellen,” said the Warlock Merlin, “must have been carried off by the fairies, because she went round the church 'wider shins'--the opposite way to the sun. She is now in the Dark Tower of the King of Elfland; it would take the boldest knight in Christendom to bring her back.”

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**Who acts:** fair Burd, fairies, Burd, it · **What happens:** say, carry off, go, be, take, bring back · **To what, where:** church, Dark Tower, boldest knight, Christendom, Burd · **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 (fair Burd, fairies, Burd, it), 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:pg7439:24:6
# text = “The fair Burd Ellen,” said the Warlock Merlin, “must have been carried off by the fairies, because she went round the church 'wider shins'--the opposite way to the sun. She is now in the Dark Tower of the King of Elfland; it would take the boldest knight in Christendom to bring her back.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Burd	Burd	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	Ellen	Ellen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Warlock	Warlock	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
11	Merlin	Merlin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
18	off	off	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
26	round	round	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	wider	wide	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	amod	_	_
31	shins	shin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	opposite	opposite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
40	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
41	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
42	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	46	advmod	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	Dark	Dark	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	46	compound	_	_
46	Tower	Tower	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	Elfland	Elfland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	boldest	bold	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	58	amod	_	_
58	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
59	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	Christendom	Christendom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
61	to	to	PART	TO	_	62	mark	_	_
62	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	advcl	_	_
63	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	obj	_	_
64	back	back	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	55	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the fair Burd |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **carry off** *in a quote* | must · perfect · passive | the fairies |  |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go** *in a quote* | past | Burd |  |  | the church and the opposite way to the sun. |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round church=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Burd |  |  | the Dark Tower | now | of the King of Elfland | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** *in a quote* | would | it | the boldest knight |  | Christendom |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent knight=Value in christendom=Location |
| 6 | **bring back** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  | Burd |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument she=Destination |

<!-- .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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