---
title: If he had told of these days he would have told of a succession of m… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: If he had told of these days he would have told of a succession of meals and sleeps, and of an endless conversation, from which his mind would now and again slip away to a solitude of its own, where, in large hazy atmospheres, it swung and drifted and reposed. Who acts: Life, mind. A sentence of «Ir
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter X, sentence 3

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If he had told of these days he would have told of a succession of meals and sleeps, and of an endless conversation, from which his mind would now and again slip away to a solitude of its own, where, in large hazy atmospheres, it swung and drifted and reposed.

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**Who acts:** Life, mind · **What happens:** tell, slip away, swing, drift, repose, mind · **To what, where:** days · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Life, mind), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2892:23:3
# text = If he had told of these days he would have told of a succession of meals and sleeps, and of an endless conversation, from which his mind would now and again slip away to a solitude of its own, where, in large hazy atmospheres, it swung and drifted and reposed.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	51	advcl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	succession	succession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	meals	meal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sleeps	sleep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	endless	endless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obl	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
31	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	34	advmod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	again	again	ADV	RB	_	31	conj	_	_
34	slip	slip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
35	away	away	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	solitude	solitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
47	hazy	hazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	atmospheres	atmosphere	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	swung	swing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	drifted	drift	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	conj	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	reposed	repose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	51	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | Life |  |  |  | day | of a endless conversation | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | would · perfect | Life | this days *not said here* |  |  |  | of a succession of meals and sleeps | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent day=Recipient |
| 3 | **slip away** | would | Life's mind |  |  |  | now | to a solitude of mind's own *result*; away *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient from which=Initial\_State to solitude=Result |
| 4 | **swing** | past | mind |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **drift** | past | mind *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **repose** | participle | mind *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **mind** |  | Life |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: 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.

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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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