---
title: The mystic signs in Greek are a familiar “counting-out rhyme”: these… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The mystic signs in Greek are a familiar “counting-out rhyme”: these have been studied in a monograph by Mr. H. C. Bolton; he thinks they are “survivals” of incantations. Who acts: mystic signs, H. C., Mr., signs. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XV. Master and Pupil, with its d
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XV. Master and Pupil, sentence 3

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The mystic signs in Greek are a familiar “counting-out rhyme”: these have been studied in a monograph by Mr. H. C. Bolton; he thinks they are “survivals” of incantations.

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**Who acts:** mystic signs, H. C., Mr., signs · **What happens:** be, study, think · **To what, where:** familiar out rhyme, these, monograph, survivals · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XV. Master and Pupil. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mystic signs, H. C., Mr., signs), 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:pg7439:65:3
# text = The mystic signs in Greek are a familiar “counting-out rhyme”: these have been studied in a monograph by Mr. H. C. Bolton; he thinks they are “survivals” of incantations.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	mystic	mystic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Greek	Greek	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
8	familiar	familiar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	counting	counting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	out	out	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	rhyme	rhyme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	studied	study	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	monograph	monograph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod:desc	_	_
25	H.	H.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	C.	C.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl:agent	_	_
27	Bolton	Bolton	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	thinks	think	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	survivals	survival	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	incantations	incantation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the mystic signs in Greek | a familiar out rhyme |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **study** | present · perfect · passive | H. C.  Mr. | these |  | a monograph |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | present | Mr. |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | signs *= sign* | survivals |  |  |  | of incantations | 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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