---
title: I was once a young lad, and my father had much land, and he had park… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I was once a young lad, and my father had much land, and he had parks of year-old cows, and one of them had just calved, and my father told me to bring her home. Who acts: I, father. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I was once a young lad, and my father had much land, and he had parks of year-old cows, and one of them had just calved, and my father told me to bring her home.

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**Who acts:** I, father · **What happens:** be, have, calve, tell, bring · **To what, where:** young lad, much land, parks, one, me, home · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, father), 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:pg7885:9:61
# text = I was once a young lad, and my father had much land, and he had parks of year-old cows, and one of them had just calved, and my father told me to bring her home.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	parks	park	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
26	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	just	just	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	calved	calve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
37	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	iobj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
40	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | I | a young lad |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | my father | much land |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | father | parks of old cows |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent park=Patient |
| 4 | **calve** | past · perfect · passive |  | one of cows |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | my father |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **bring** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | my father *not said here* | Erin's home |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent home=Theme |

<!-- .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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