---
title: His boast was that when he saw an open door he went into it, and whe… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: His boast was that when he saw an open door he went into it, and when he saw a closed door he went into it. Who acts: boast, tongue. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/16/7/)

<!-- 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/) / [Irish Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/) / [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/16/) / 7

# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter III, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His boast was that when he saw an open door he went into it, and when he saw a closed door he went into it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boast, tongue · **What happens:** be, go, see, close, boast · **To what, where:** open door, boast, closed door

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boast, tongue), 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:pg2892:16:7
# text = His boast was that when he saw an open door he went into it, and when he saw a closed door he went into it.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	boast	boast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	amod	_	_
22	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | tongue's boast |  |  |  |  | see *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | past | tongue | a open door *not said here* |  | boast |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | tongue | a closed door |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer door=Stimulus |
| 4 | **close** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **go** | past | tongue | a closed door *not said here* |  | boast |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **boast** |  | tongue |  |  |  |  |  | nom boast «communication intransitive»: poss=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:** «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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/16/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/16/8/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/16/)