---
title: In “Childe Rowland” we have the nearest example to such protoplasm,… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In “Childe Rowland” we have the nearest example to such protoplasm, and it is not difficult to see how it could have been shortened into a ballad or reduced to a prose folk-tale pure and simple. Who acts: we. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXI. Childe Rowland., with its depend
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 53

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In “Childe Rowland” we have the nearest example to such protoplasm, and it is not difficult to see how it could have been shortened into a ballad or reduced to a prose folk-tale pure and simple.

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** have, not be, see, shorten, reduce · **To what, where:** nearest example, Childe, example, ballad, prose folk tale · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (we), 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:pg7439:71:53
# text = In “Childe Rowland” we have the nearest example to such protoplasm, and it is not difficult to see how it could have been shortened into a ballad or reduced to a prose folk-tale pure and simple.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Childe	Childe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	Rowland	Rowland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	amod	_	_
10	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	protoplasm	protoplasm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	expl	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	csubj	_	_
22	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux	_	_
26	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	shortened	shorten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	reduced	reduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
35	prose	prose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
36	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
39	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | we | the nearest example |  | Childe |  | to such protoplasm | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent example=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **shorten** | could · perfect · passive |  | example |  | a ballad |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **reduce** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | to a prose folk tale *goal* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer to tale=Goal |

<!-- .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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