---
title: “If,” said one irritable guard, “if we buzzed a spear at the persist… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “If,” said one irritable guard, “if we buzzed a spear at the persistent stranger, or if one slung at him with a jagged pebble!” Who acts: one irritable guard, we. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter II, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter II, sentence 24

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“If,” said one irritable guard, “if we buzzed a spear at the persistent stranger, or if one slung at him with a jagged pebble!”

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**Who acts:** one irritable guard, we · **What happens:** say, buzz, sling · **To what, where:** spear, one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter II. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one irritable guard, we), 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:pg2892:3:24
# text = “If,” said one irritable guard, “if we buzzed a spear at the persistent stranger, or if one slung at him with a jagged pebble!”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	irritable	irritable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	buzzed	buzz	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	persistent	persistent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	slung	sling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	parataxis	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	jagged	jagged	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	pebble	pebble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | past | one irritable guard |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **buzz** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | we | a spear |  |  |  | at the persistent stranger | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme PP.recipient PP.stimulus»: agent=Agent spear=Theme at stranger=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sling** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | participle · passive |  | one |  |  |  | at stranger; with a jagged pebble | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme at he=Destination |

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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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