---
title: If, as archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in North… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: If, as archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe, very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly ex
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/71/62/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/) / [XXI. Childe Rowland.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/71/) / 62

# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If, as archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe, very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly exterminated by Aryan invaders and should occasionally have performed something like the pranks told of fairies and trolls.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** archaeologists, race, that, it, odd survivors, pranks · **What happens:** tell, be, dwell, conceal, not seem, live on · **To what, where:** us, underground chambers, survivors, something · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (archaeologists, race, that, it), 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:pg7439:71:62
# text = If, as archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe, very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly exterminated by Aryan invaders and should occasionally have performed something like the pranks told of fairies and trolls.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	archaeologists	archaeologist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	9	expl	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
10	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	9	advmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	Northern	Northern	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	Europe	Europe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	hairy	hairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	underground	underground	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	chambers	chamber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
29	artificially	artificially	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	concealed	conceal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	hillocks	hillock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
39	unlikely	unlikely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	xcomp	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
41	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	survivors	survivor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	aux	_	_
48	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
49	on	on	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
50	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
52	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	conquered	conquer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	advcl	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	exterminated	exterminate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	54	conj	_	_
58	by	by	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	Aryan	Aryan	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	invaders	invader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
62	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	65	aux	_	_
63	occasionally	occasionally	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
64	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	65	aux	_	_
65	performed	perform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	48	conj	_	_
66	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	65	obj	_	_
67	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	70	mark	_	_
68	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
69	pranks	prank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	70	nsubj	_	_
70	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	advcl	_	_
71	of	of	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
72	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	70	obl	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	74	cc	_	_
74	trolls	troll	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	72	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | archaeologists |  | us |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | past | a race of men in Northern Europe |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | a race of men in Northern Europe *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **dwell** | past | that |  |  | underground chambers |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in chamber=Location |
| 5 | **conceal** | participle |  | underground chambers *not said here* |  |  |  | by green hillocks; artificially *property* | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent by hillock=Location |
| 6 | **not** **seem** | present · do-support | it |  |  |  |  | unlikely *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **live on** | should · perfect | odd survivors of the race |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **conquer** | past · perfect · passive |  | survivors *= survivor* |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **exterminate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by Aryan invaders; nearly *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **perform** | should · perfect | odd survivors of the race *not said here* | something |  |  |  | occasionally *property* | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Theme |
| 11 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the pranks |  |  |  |  | of fairies and trolls | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **race** |  | men in Northern Europe |  |  |  |  |  | nom race «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/71/61/)
- next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/71/63/)
- ↑ back to [XXI. Childe Rowland.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/71/)