---
title: They are instructed by an old man (like Merlin in “Childe Rowland”)… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They are instructed by an old man (like Merlin in “Childe Rowland”) how to rescue their sister, and ultimately succeed. Who acts: old man. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXI. Childe Rowland., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 25

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They are instructed by an old man (like Merlin in “Childe Rowland”) how to rescue their sister, and ultimately succeed.

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**Who acts:** old man · **What happens:** instruct, rescue, succeed · **To what, where:** names, sister

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXI. 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 (old man), 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:pg7439:71:25
# text = They are instructed by an old man (like Merlin in “Childe Rowland”) how to rescue their sister, and ultimately succeed.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	instructed	instruct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Merlin	Merlin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Childe	Childe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	Rowland	Rowland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	10	punct	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	rescue	rescue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	ultimately	ultimately	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	succeed	succeed	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **instruct** *speech: other* | present · passive | a old man | names *= name* |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **rescue** | to-infinitive | a old man *not said here* | names's sister |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sister=Theme |
| 3 | **succeed** | present | a old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | ultimately *property* | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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