---
title: They were trained to pick out of shadows birds that were themselves… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They were trained to pick out of shadows birds that were themselves dun-coloured shades, and to see among trees the animals that are coloured like the bark of trees. Who acts: eyes, that. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VIII, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VIII, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were trained to pick out of shadows birds that were themselves dun-coloured shades, and to see among trees the animals that are coloured like the bark of trees.

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**Who acts:** eyes, that · **What happens:** train, pick out, be, see, colour · **To what, where:** eyes, shadows birds, animals

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VIII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes, that), 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:pg2892:21:7
# text = They were trained to pick out of shadows birds that were themselves dun-coloured shades, and to see among trees the animals that are coloured like the bark of trees.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	trained	train	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pick	pick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	compound	_	_
9	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
12	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
13	dun	dun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	coloured	coloured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	shades	shade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
21	among	among	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	coloured	colour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **train** | past · passive |  | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **pick out** | to-infinitive | eyes *= eye* *not said here* | shadows birds |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bird=Patient |
| 3 | **be** | past | that | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot themselves=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | the animals |  |  |  | among trees | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer animal=Stimulus |
| 5 | **colour** | present · passive |  | the animals |  |  |  | like the bark of trees | 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:** «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.

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