---
title: He recited a list of calamities which would befall such a miscreant,… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He recited a list of calamities which would befall such a miscreant, and these woes began with flaying and ended with dismemberment, and had inside bits of such complicated and ingenious torment that the blood of the men who heard it ran chill in their veins, and the women of the household fainted w
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV. On the following day Fergus called his servant, sentence 43

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He recited a list of calamities which would befall such a miscreant, and these woes began with flaying and ended with dismemberment, and had inside bits of such complicated and ingenious torment that the blood of the men who heard it ran chill in their veins, and the women of the household fainted where they stood.

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**Who acts:** dog, calamities, woes, men, blood, women · **What happens:** recite, befall, begin, flay, end, have · **To what, where:** list, miscreant, bits, blood, chill, veins

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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 (dog, calamities, woes, men), 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:pg2892:31:43
# text = He recited a list of calamities which would befall such a miscreant, and these woes began with flaying and ended with dismemberment, and had inside bits of such complicated and ingenious torment that the blood of the men who heard it ran chill in their veins, and the women of the household fainted where they stood.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	recited	recite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	list	list	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	calamities	calamity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	befall	befall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	12	det:predet	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	miscreant	miscreant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	woes	woe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	flaying	flay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	dismemberment	dismemberment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
27	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
31	complicated	complicated	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	ingenious	ingenious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	_
34	torment	torment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	_
41	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
42	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
45	chill	chill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	veins	vein	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	_
56	fainted	faint	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
57	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	59	advmod	_	_
58	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **recite** | past | dog | a list of calamities |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent list=Theme |
| 2 | **befall** | would | calamities | such miscreant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **begin** | past | this woes |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **flay** | gerund | this woes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **end** | past | this woes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with dismemberment | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality PP.subeventuality»: agent=Affector with dismemberment=Subeventuality |
| 6 | **have** | past | dog *not said here* |  |  | bits of such complicated torment |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **hear** | past | the men | blood |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 8 | **run** | past | the blood of the men | chill |  | woes's veins |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location chill=Theme |
| 9 | **faint** | past | the women of the household |  |  |  |  |  | vn change\_bodily\_state-40.8.4 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 10 | **stand** | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **list** |  |  | calamities |  |  |  |  | nom list «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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