---
title: A long stretch of the silent night had gone by, minute following min… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A long stretch of the silent night had gone by, minute following minute in a slow sequence, wherein as there was no change there was no time; wherein there was no past and no future, but a stupefying, endless present which is almost the annihilation of consciousness. Who acts: long stretch, past, st
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIV, sentence 6

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A long stretch of the silent night had gone by, minute following minute in a slow sequence, wherein as there was no change there was no time; wherein there was no past and no future, but a stupefying, endless present which is almost the annihilation of consciousness.

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**Who acts:** long stretch, past, stupefying endless present · **What happens:** go, follow, be, stupefy · **To what, where:** slow sequence, change, annihilation

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (long stretch, past, stupefying endless present), 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:pg2892:27:6
# text = A long stretch of the silent night had gone by, minute following minute in a slow sequence, wherein as there was no change there was no time; wherein there was no past and no future, but a stupefying, endless present which is almost the annihilation of consciousness.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stretch	stretch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	amod	_	_
14	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:unmarked	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	sequence	sequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	wherein	wherein	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	23	expl	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	27	expl	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
28	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	29	det	_	_
29	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
31	wherein	wherein	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
32	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	33	expl	_	_
33	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
34	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
35	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	38	det	_	_
38	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
42	stupefying	stupefy	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	45	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
44	endless	endless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	_
46	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
47	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
48	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	annihilation	annihilation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	acl:relcl	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	consciousness	consciousness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · perfect | a long stretch of the silent night |  |  | a slow sequence | minute |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in sequence=Location |
| 2 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | no change |  |  |  | wherein *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** | past | no past and no future |  |  | there |  | wherein *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **stupefy** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is a** | present | a stupefying endless present | the annihilation |  |  |  | of consciousness; almost *property* | tree rules |

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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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