---
title: Nor had the priest any better knowledge than he; but when Guleesh as… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Nor had the priest any better knowledge than he; but when Guleesh asked him, he wrote three or four letters to the king of France, and gave them to buyers and sellers of wares, who used to be going from place to place across the sea; but they all went astray, and never a one came to the king's hand.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Connla and the Fairy Maiden, part 2, sentence 74

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Nor had the priest any better knowledge than he; but when Guleesh asked him, he wrote three or four letters to the king of France, and gave them to buyers and sellers of wares, who used to be going from place to place across the sea; but they all went astray, and never a one came to the king's hand.

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**Who acts:** Nor, Guleesh, wares, letters, one · **What happens:** have, ask, write, give, use, go · **To what, where:** priest, Nor, three letters, king, letters, place

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Connla and the Fairy Maiden, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nor, Guleesh, wares, letters), 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:pg7885:5:74
# text = Nor had the priest any better knowledge than he; but when Guleesh asked him, he wrote three or four letters to the king of France, and gave them to buyers and sellers of wares, who used to be going from place to place across the sea; but they all went astray, and never a one came to the king's hand.
1	Nor	Nor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	any	any	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
7	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	Guleesh	Guleesh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
19	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	conj	_	_
22	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	iobj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	buyers	buyer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	sellers	seller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	wares	ware	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
42	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	aux	_	_
43	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
48	across	across	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	advmod	_	_
55	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
56	astray	astray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
59	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	61	advmod	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	62	nsubj	_	_
62	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	conj	_	_
63	to	to	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	's	's	PART	POS	_	65	case	_	_
67	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Nor | the priest |  |  |  | well *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent priest=Patient |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Guleesh |  | Nor |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **write** | past | Guleesh | three letters | the king of France |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent letter=Topic to king=Recipient |
| 4 | **give** | past | Guleesh *not said here* |  | letters *= letter* |  |  | to buyers and sellers of wares | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to buyer=Recipient |
| 5 | **use** | past | wares |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **go** | to-infinitive · progressive | wares *not said here* |  |  | place to place |  | across the sea | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from place=Initial\_Location across sea=Destination |
| 7 | **go** | past | letters *= letter* |  |  |  |  | astray *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **come** | past | a one |  |  | the king's hand |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to hand=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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