---
title: It must have seemed like a city of dream, a city to catch the heart,… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It must have seemed like a city of dream, a city to catch the heart, when, coming over the great plain, Fionn saw Tara of the Kings held on its hill as in a hand to gather all the gold of the falling sun, and to restore a brightness as mellow and tender as that universal largess. Who acts: It, Fionn
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XI, sentence 18

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It must have seemed like a city of dream, a city to catch the heart, when, coming over the great plain, Fionn saw Tara of the Kings held on its hill as in a hand to gather all the gold of the falling sun, and to restore a brightness as mellow and tender as that universal largess.

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**Who acts:** It, Fionn, Tara · **What happens:** seem, catch, come, see, hold, gather · **To what, where:** heart, great plain, hill, gold, brightness · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XI. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Fionn, Tara), 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:pg2892:24:18
# text = It must have seemed like a city of dream, a city to catch the heart, when, coming over the great plain, Fionn saw Tara of the Kings held on its hill as in a hand to gather all the gold of the falling sun, and to restore a brightness as mellow and tender as that universal largess.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
21	over	over	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
28	Tara	Tara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	Kings	King	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	_
32	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	gather	gather	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
42	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	44	det:predet	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	amod	_	_
48	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	restore	restore	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	brightness	brightness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
55	as	as	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	mellow	mellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	obl	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	tender	tender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	conj	_	_
59	as	as	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
60	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	62	det	_	_
61	universal	universal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	largess	largess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | must | It |  |  |  |  | like a city of dream and a city | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **catch** | to-infinitive |  | the heart |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | gerund |  |  |  | the great plain |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme over plain=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **see** | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **hold** | past | Tara of the Kings |  |  | city's hill |  | as a hand | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on hill=Location |
| 6 | **gather** | to-infinitive | Tara of the Kings *not said here* | all gold of the falling sun |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gold=Theme |
| 7 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **restore** | to-infinitive | Fionn *not said here* | a brightness |  |  |  | as mellow | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent brightness=Theme |

<!-- .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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