---
title: “Possible it is,” said the Warlock Merlin, “but woe to the man or mo… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Possible it is,” said the Warlock Merlin, “but woe to the man or mother's son that attempts it, if he is not well taught beforehand what he is to do.” Who acts: Warlock, Warlock Merlin, son, Merlin. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Childe Rowland, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Childe Rowland, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Possible it is,” said the Warlock Merlin, “but woe to the man or mother's son that attempts it, if he is not well taught beforehand what he is to do.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Warlock, Warlock Merlin, son, Merlin · **What happens:** be, say, attempt, not teach · **To what, where:** Warlock, Merlin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Warlock, Warlock Merlin, son, Merlin), 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:pg7439:24:8
# text = “Possible it is,” said the Warlock Merlin, “but woe to the man or mother's son that attempts it, if he is not well taught beforehand what he is to do.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Warlock	Warlock	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Merlin	Merlin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	woe	woe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	's	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	attempts	attempt	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
31	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
32	beforehand	beforehand	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	obl	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Warlock |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Warlock Merlin |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **attempt** *in a quote* | present | mother's son | Warlock |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **teach** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · passive |  | Merlin |  |  |  | well *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Merlin |  |  |  |  | do *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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