---
title: He was tormented by the idea that some evil person might throw a sto… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was tormented by the idea that some evil person might throw a stone at the hound, so he assembled his servants and retainers and addressed them. Who acts: idea, evil person, dog. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IV. On the following day Fergus called his servant, with 
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV. On the following day Fergus called his servant, sentence 41

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He was tormented by the idea that some evil person might throw a stone at the hound, so he assembled his servants and retainers and addressed them.

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**Who acts:** idea, evil person, dog · **What happens:** torment, throw, assemble, address · **To what, where:** dog, stone, servants, retainers

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IV. On the following day Fergus called his servant. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (idea, evil person, dog), 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:pg2892:31:41
# text = He was tormented by the idea that some evil person might throw a stone at the hound, so he assembled his servants and retainers and addressed them.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	tormented	torment	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
9	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hound	hound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	assembled	assemble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	retainers	retainer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	addressed	address	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **torment** | past · passive | the idea | dog |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **throw** | might | some evil person | a stone |  |  |  | at the hound | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent stone=Theme at hound=Destination |
| 3 | **assemble** | past | dog | dog's servants and retainers |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent servant=Theme |
| 4 | **address** | past | dog *not said here* | retainers *= retainer* |  |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination |

<!-- .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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