---
title: The question is, were the folk-tales the earliest, and were they loc… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The question is, were the folk-tales the earliest, and were they localised and applied to the heroes, or were the heroic sagas generalised and applied to an unknown [Greek: tis]? Who acts: question. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Notes and References, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Notes and References, sentence 59

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The question is, were the folk-tales the earliest, and were they localised and applied to the heroes, or were the heroic sagas generalised and applied to an unknown \[Greek: tis\]?

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**Who acts:** question · **What happens:** be, localise, apply, generalise · **To what, where:** question, folk tales, tales, heroic sagas

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Notes and References. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (question), 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:pg7885:34:59
# text = The question is, were the folk-tales the earliest, and were they localised and applied to the heroes, or were the heroic sagas generalised and applied to an unknown [Greek: tis]?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	earliest	early	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	localised	localise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	applied	apply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	heroes	hero	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	heroic	heroic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	sagas	saga	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
28	generalised	generalise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	applied	apply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obl	_	_
34	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
37	tis	tis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the question | the folk tales or the heroic sagas |  |  |  | the earliest *nmod*; tis *nmod* | tree rules |
| 3 | **localise** | past · passive |  | tales *= tale* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **apply** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | to the heroes | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | past | the question *not said here* | the heroic sagas |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **generalise** | participle |  | the heroic sagas *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **apply** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | to a unknown | vn use-105.1 «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:** «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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