---
title: The eldest and second eldest were cunning clever fellows, but they c… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The eldest and second eldest were cunning clever fellows, but they called the youngest Jack the Fool, because they thought he was no better than a simpleton. Who acts: fellows, he. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Master, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Jack and His Master, sentence 2

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The eldest and second eldest were cunning clever fellows, but they called the youngest Jack the Fool, because they thought he was no better than a simpleton.

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**Who acts:** fellows, he · **What happens:** be, call, think, not be · **To what, where:** second eldest cunning clever fellows, youngest Jack · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Master. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fellows, he), 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:pg7885:24:2
# text = The eldest and second eldest were cunning clever fellows, but they called the youngest Jack the Fool, because they thought he was no better than a simpleton.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
4	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
5	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	cunning	cunning	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	fellows	fellow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	amod	_	_
16	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Fool	Fool	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	no	no	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	ccomp	_	_
27	than	than	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	simpleton	simpleton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | second eldest cunning clever fellows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | past | fellows *= fellow* |  | the youngest Jack |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent jack=Recipient |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | fellows *= fellow* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past | he |  |  |  |  | than a simpleton; good *property* | tree rules |

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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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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