---
title: And they stumbled and stottered along the paths into the midst of th… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And they stumbled and stottered along the paths into the midst of the bogs; they saw nought, though they heard sighings and flutterings in their ears, and felt cold wet fingers touching them; but all at once, looking around for the coffin, the candle, and the cross, while they came nigh to the pool 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/25/2/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/25/) / 2

# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 11, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they stumbled and stottered along the paths into the midst of the bogs; they saw nought, though they heard sighings and flutterings in their ears, and felt cold wet fingers touching them; but all at once, looking around for the coffin, the candle, and the cross, while they came nigh to the pool beside the great snag, where the Moon lay buried.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** darklings, cold wet fingers, Moon · **What happens:** stumble, stotter, see, hear, feel, touch · **To what, where:** midst, nought, sighings, ears, cold wet fingers, darklings

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (darklings, cold wet fingers, Moon), 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:pg14241:25:2
# text = And they stumbled and stottered along the paths into the midst of the bogs; they saw nought, though they heard sighings and flutterings in their ears, and felt cold wet fingers touching them; but all at once, looking around for the coffin, the candle, and the cross, while they came nigh to the pool beside the great snag, where the Moon lay buried.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stumbled	stumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	stottered	stotter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
6	along	along	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	paths	path	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	bogs	bog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	nought	nought	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
23	sighings	sighing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	flutterings	fluttering	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
32	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
35	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
38	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	all	all	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
44	around	around	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	for	for	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	coffin	coffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	candle	candle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	cross	cross	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
56	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
57	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
59	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
60	to	to	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
63	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	snag	snag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	71	punct	_	_
68	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	71	advmod	_	_
69	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	Moon	Moon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	71	nsubj	_	_
71	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	acl:relcl	_	_
72	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	71	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stumble** | past | darklings *= darkling* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **stotter** | participle | darklings *= darkling* *not said here* |  |  | the midst of the bogs |  | along the paths | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | darklings *= darkling* | nought |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nought=Stimulus |
| 4 | **hear** | past | darklings *= darkling* | sighings and flutterings |  | darklings's ears |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sighing=Stimulus |
| 5 | **feel** | past | darklings *= darkling* *not said here* | cold wet fingers |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent finger=Theme |
| 6 | **touch** | gerund | cold wet fingers *not said here* | darklings *= darkling* |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme |
| 7 | **look around** | gerund | darklings *= darkling* *not said here* | the cross |  |  |  | for the coffin and the candle; all, around *property* | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for coffin=Theme |
| 8 | **come** | past | darklings *= darkling* |  |  | the pool beside the great snag |  | nigh *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to pool=Initial\_Location |
| 9 | **lie** | past | the Moon |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **bury** | participle | the Moon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/25/1/)
- next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/25/3/)
- ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/25/)