---
title: But he could not often make these sleepy sallies; his master was too… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But he could not often make these sleepy sallies; his master was too experienced a teacher to allow any such bright-faced, eager-eyed abstractions, and as the druid women had switched his legs around a tree, so Finegas chased his mind, demanding sense in his questions and understanding in his replie
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter X, sentence 5

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But he could not often make these sleepy sallies; his master was too experienced a teacher to allow any such bright-faced, eager-eyed abstractions, and as the druid women had switched his legs around a tree, so Finegas chased his mind, demanding sense in his questions and understanding in his replies.

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**Who acts:** Life, master, Finegas · **What happens:** not make, be, allow, switch, chase, demand · **To what, where:** sleepy sallies, such eyed abstractions, druid women, tree, mind, sense

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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, master, Finegas), 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:pg2892:23:5
# text = But he could not often make these sleepy sallies; his master was too experienced a teacher to allow any such bright-faced, eager-eyed abstractions, and as the druid women had switched his legs around a tree, so Finegas chased his mind, demanding sense in his questions and understanding in his replies.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	often	often	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
8	sleepy	sleepy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sallies	sally	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	too	too	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	experienced	experienced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	teacher	teacher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	allow	allow	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
20	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	29	det	_	_
21	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
22	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	faced	faced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
26	eager	eager	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	eyed	eyed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	abstractions	abstraction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	druid	druid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	switched	switch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
40	around	around	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	so	so	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
45	Finegas	Finegas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
46	chased	chase	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	advcl	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	demanding	demand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
51	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	understanding	understanding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	_
57	in	in	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	replies	reply	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **make** | could | Life | this sleepy sallies |  |  |  | often *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sally=Product |
| 2 | **is** | past | Life's master |  |  |  |  | experienced *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **allow** | to-infinitive |  |  | any such eyed abstractions |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent abstraction=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **switch** | past · perfect · passive |  | the druid women |  | a tree |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **chase** | past | Finegas | Life's mind |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Theme |
| 6 | **demand** *speech: request* | gerund | Finegas *not said here* | sense |  | Life's questions and understanding in Life's replies |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme sense=Precondition |
| 7 | **mind** |  | Life |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **question** |  | Life |  |  |  |  |  | nom question «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 9 | **reply** |  | Life |  |  |  |  |  | nom reply «communication 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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