---
title: There were hills and valleys there, and woods and streams, but in wh… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There were hills and valleys there, and woods and streams, but in whatever direction I went I came always to a cliff, so tall it seemed to lean against the sky, and so straight that even a goat would not have imagined to climb it.” Who acts: hills, I, it. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James S
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VII, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There were hills and valleys there, and woods and streams, but in whatever direction I went I came always to a cliff, so tall it seemed to lean against the sky, and so straight that even a goat would not have imagined to climb it.”

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**Who acts:** hills, I, it · **What happens:** be, go, come, seem, lean, not imagine · **To what, where:** direction, cliff, sky, goat

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hills, I, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2892:39:2
# text = There were hills and valleys there, and woods and streams, but in whatever direction I went I came always to a cliff, so tall it seemed to lean against the sky, and so straight that even a goat would not have imagined to climb it.”
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	valleys	valley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	parataxis	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	streams	stream	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	whatever	whatever	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	16	det	_	_
16	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
21	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	20	advmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	parataxis	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	lean	lean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	against	against	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	parataxis	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
40	even	even	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
45	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	aux	_	_
46	imagined	imagine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	advcl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | hills and valleys |  |  | there; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past | I |  |  | whatever direction |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in direction=Location |
| 3 | **come** | past | I |  |  | a cliff |  | always *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to cliff=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **lean** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the sky |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent against sky=Location |
| 6 | **not** **imagine** | would · perfect · passive |  | a goat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **climb** | to-infinitive |  | goat |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=Theme |

<!-- .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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