---
title: It is indeed unlikely that the ballad itself began as continuous ver… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It is indeed unlikely that the ballad itself began as continuous verse, and the _cante-fable_ is probably the protoplasm out of which both ballad and folk-tale have been differentiated, the ballad by omitting the narrative prose, the folk-tale by expanding it. Who acts: ballad, fable _, folk tale. A
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 52

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It is indeed unlikely that the ballad itself began as continuous verse, and the \_cante-fable\_ is probably the protoplasm out of which both ballad and folk-tale have been differentiated, the ballad by omitting the narrative prose, the folk-tale by expanding it.

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**Who acts:** ballad, fable \_, folk tale · **What happens:** be, begin, differentiate, omit, expand · **To what, where:** protoplasm, ballad, narrative prose, prose

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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 (ballad, fable \_, folk tale), 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:pg7439:71:52
# text = It is indeed unlikely that the ballad itself began as continuous verse, and the _cante-fable_ is probably the protoplasm out of which both ballad and folk-tale have been differentiated, the ballad by omitting the narrative prose, the folk-tale by expanding it.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	unlikely	unlikely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	7	nmod:unmarked	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	continuous	continuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	verse	verse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
16	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	cante	cante	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	fable	fable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	_	_	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	protoplasm	protoplasm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	obl	_	_
28	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	det	_	_
29	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
34	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	differentiated	differentiate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
40	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
41	omitting	omit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	39	acl	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	narrative	narrative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	prose	prose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
47	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	47	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
50	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	expanding	expand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	49	acl	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | indeed, unlikely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the ballad  probability |  |  |  |  | as continuous verse | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is a** | present | the fable \_ | the protoplasm and the ballad |  |  |  | probably *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **differentiate** | present · perfect · passive |  | both ballad and folk tale |  | the protoplasm and the ballad |  |  | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **omit** | gerund | the ballad *not said here* | the narrative prose |  |  |  |  | vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prose=Theme |
| 6 | **expand** | gerund | the folk tale *not said here* | prose |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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