--- title: I saw the dragon-flies flash and dart and turn, with a poise, with a… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: I saw the dragon-flies flash and dart and turn, with a poise, with a speed that no other winged thing knows: I saw the hawk hover and stare and swoop: he fell like a falling stone, but he could not catch the king of the salmon: I saw the cold-eyed cat stretching along a bough level with the water, e --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/11/3/) [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/) / [Irish Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/) / [Chapter X](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/11/) / 3 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter X, sentence 3 I saw the dragon-flies flash and dart and turn, with a poise, with a speed that no other winged thing knows: I saw the hawk hover and stare and swoop: he fell like a falling stone, but he could not catch the king of the salmon: I saw the cold-eyed cat stretching along a bough level with the water, eager to hook and lift the creatures of the river. **Who acts:** I, dragon flies, other, speed, eyed cat · **What happens:** see, flash, dart, turn, wing, know · **To what, where:** speed, hawk hover, king, eyed cat, bough level, creatures · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter X. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, dragon flies, other, speed), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2892:11:3 # text = I saw the dragon-flies flash and dart and turn, with a poise, with a speed that no other winged thing knows: I saw the hawk hover and stare and swoop: he fell like a falling stone, but he could not catch the king of the salmon: I saw the cold-eyed cat stretching along a bough level with the water, eager to hook and lift the creatures of the river. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 4 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 5 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 flies fly NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nsubj _ _ 7 flash flash VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 ccomp _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 dart dart VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 turn turn VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 with with ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 poise poise NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 with with ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 speed speed NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 20 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 23 obj _ _ 21 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 22 det _ _ 22 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 nsubj _ _ 23 winged wing VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 acl:relcl _ _ 24 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 25 knows know VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 26 : : PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 hawk hawk NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 hover hover NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 stare stare VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 swoop swoop VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 : : PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 39 like like ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 falling fall VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 42 amod _ _ 42 stone stone NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 44 but but CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 45 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 46 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 47 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 48 advmod _ _ 48 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 conj _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ _ 51 of of ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 salmon salmon NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 : : PUNCT : _ 56 punct _ _ 55 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 56 nsubj _ _ 56 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 57 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 61 det _ _ 58 cold cold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 60 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 59 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 58 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 eyed eyed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 61 amod _ _ 61 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 obj _ _ 62 stretching stretch VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 61 acl _ _ 63 along along ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 64 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 66 det _ _ 65 bough bough NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 compound _ _ 66 level level NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obl _ _ 67 with with ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 68 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 69 det _ _ 69 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 70 , , PUNCT , _ 71 punct _ _ 71 eager eager ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 conj _ _ 72 to to PART TO _ 73 mark _ _ 73 hook hook VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 71 xcomp _ _ 74 and and CCONJ CC _ 75 cc _ _ 75 lift lift VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 73 conj _ _ 76 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 77 det _ _ 77 creatures creature NOUN NNS Number=Plur 75 obj _ _ 78 of of ADP IN _ 80 case _ _ 79 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 80 det _ _ 80 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 77 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 81 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **flash** | present | the dragon flies | | | | | | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location | | 3 | **dart** | present | the dragon flies *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **turn** | present | the dragon flies *not said here* | | | | | with a poise | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **wing** | past | no other | a speed | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **know** | present | a speed | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **see** | past | I | the hawk hover | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hover=Stimulus | | 8 | **stare** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **swoop** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **fall** | past | speed | | | | | like a falling stone | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 11 | **fall** | gerund | | | | | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **not** **catch** | could | speed | the king of the salmon | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Theme | | 13 | **see** | past | I | the eyed cat | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cat=Stimulus | | 14 | **stretch** | gerund | the eyed cat *not said here* | | | a bough level | | with the water | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along level=Location | | 15 | **hook** | to-infinitive | the eyed cat *not said here* | | | | | | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme | | 16 | **lift** | infinitive | the eyed cat *not said here* | the creatures of the river | | | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent creature=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/11/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/11/4/) - ↑ back to [Chapter X](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/11/)