---
title: Often the gentleman would send a servitor to spy if that deserter of… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Often the gentleman would send a servitor to spy if that deserter of the gods was still before his door, and each time the servant replied that he was still there. Who acts: gentleman, deserter, servant. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter II, with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter II, sentence 8

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Often the gentleman would send a servitor to spy if that deserter of the gods was still before his door, and each time the servant replied that he was still there.

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**Who acts:** gentleman, deserter, servant · **What happens:** send, spy, be, reply · **To what, where:** servitor

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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 (gentleman, deserter, servant), 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:pg2892:3:8
# text = Often the gentleman would send a servitor to spy if that deserter of the gods was still before his door, and each time the servant replied that he was still there.
1	Often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	servitor	servitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	spy	spy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
11	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	deserter	deserter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
17	still	still	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
24	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	still	still	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | would | the gentleman | a servitor |  |  |  | often *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servitor=Theme |
| 2 | **spy** | to-infinitive | the gentleman *not said here* | a servitor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | that deserter of the gods |  |  |  | before gentleman's door; still |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the servant |  |  |  | time |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | servant |  |  |  | still | there *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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