---
title: Tradition had long located a goblin in its centre, but it was not ti… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Tradition had long located a goblin in its centre, but it was not till 1861 that it was discovered to be pierced by a long passage 53 feet in length, and only two feet four inches high, for half of its length. Who acts: goblin, long passage. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXI.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, XXI. Childe Rowland., sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tradition had long located a goblin in its centre, but it was not till 1861 that it was discovered to be pierced by a long passage 53 feet in length, and only two feet four inches high, for half of its length.

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**Who acts:** goblin, long passage · **What happens:** locate, not be, discover, pierce · **To what, where:** Tradition, goblin

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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 (goblin, long passage), 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:pg7439:71:66
# text = Tradition had long located a goblin in its centre, but it was not till 1861 that it was discovered to be pierced by a long passage 53 feet in length, and only two feet four inches high, for half of its length.
1	Tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	located	locate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	goblin	goblin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	centre	centre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	till	till	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	1861	1861	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	discovered	discover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	pierced	pierce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	xcomp	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	53	53	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
34	only	only	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl:unmarked	_	_
37	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	inches	inch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl:unmarked	_	_
39	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	39	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **locate** | past · perfect · passive |  | Tradition |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | goblin |  |  |  | till 1861 |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **discover** | past · passive |  | goblin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **pierce** | to-infinitive · passive | a long passage in length and 53 feet |  |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

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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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