---
title: Well, by the powers," said Tom to himself, "I often heard tell of th… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Well, by the powers," said Tom to himself, "I often heard tell of the Lepracauns, and, to tell God's truth, I never rightly believed in them--but here's one of them in real earnest. Who acts: Tom, I, truth. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Field of Boliauns, with its dependen
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Field of Boliauns, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Well, by the powers," said Tom to himself, "I often heard tell of the Lepracauns, and, to tell God's truth, I never rightly believed in them--but here's one of them in real earnest.

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**Who acts:** Tom, I, truth · **What happens:** say, hear, tell, not believe, be · **To what, where:** Tom, tell, one, real earnest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Field of Boliauns. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tom, I, truth), 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:pg7885:7:5
# text = Well, by the powers," said Tom to himself, "I often heard tell of the Lepracauns, and, to tell God's truth, I never rightly believed in them--but here's one of them in real earnest.
1	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	powers	power	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	often	often	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
17	tell	tell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Lepracauns	Lepracaun	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
32	rightly	rightly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	believed	believe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
40	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	ccomp	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nmod	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	earnest	earn	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | Tom |  | Tom |  |  | by the powers | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** | past | I | tell of the Lepracauns |  |  |  | often *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer tell=Stimulus |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | God's truth |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **believe** | participle | I |  |  |  |  | in Lepracauns *= lepracaun*; rightly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | one |  | real earnest; here |  | of Lepracauns *= lepracaun* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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