--- title: It was not the corner which a slender-fingered woman would choose to… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It was not the corner which a slender-fingered woman would choose to do up her hair; nor was it the spot an ancient man would select to think quietly in, for the tumult of sword on sword, of axe on shield, the roar of the contending parties, the crying of wounded men, and the screaming of frightened --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/46/83/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Irish Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/) / [Chapter II](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/46/) / 83 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter II, sentence 83 It was not the corner which a slender-fingered woman would choose to do up her hair; nor was it the spot an ancient man would select to think quietly in, for the tumult of sword on sword, of axe on shield, the roar of the contending parties, the crying of wounded men, and the screaming of frightened women destroyed peace, and over all was the rallying cry of Goll mac Morna and the great shout of Fionn. **Who acts:** person, fingered woman, ancient man, screaming, all, contending parties · **What happens:** not be, finger, choose, do up, be, select · **To what, where:** corner, hair, person, spot, peace, rallying cry 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 (person, fingered woman, ancient man, screaming), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2892:46:83 # text = It was not the corner which a slender-fingered woman would choose to do up her hair; nor was it the spot an ancient man would select to think quietly in, for the tumult of sword on sword, of axe on shield, the roar of the contending parties, the crying of wounded men, and the screaming of frightened women destroyed peace, and over all was the rallying cry of Goll mac Morna and the great shout of Fionn. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 corner corner NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 6 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 13 obj _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 8 slender slender ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 9 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 fingered finger VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 amod _ _ 11 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 12 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 choose choose VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 acl:relcl _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 xcomp _ _ 16 up up ADP RP _ 15 compound:prt _ _ 17 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 22 cc _ _ 21 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 22 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ _ 25 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 ancient ancient ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 28 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 select select VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 acl:relcl _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 quietly quietly ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 in in ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 for for ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 tumult tumult NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 40 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 axe axe NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 45 on on ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 shield shield NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 roar roar NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 conj _ _ 50 of of ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 contending contending NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 compound _ _ 53 parties party NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 crying crying NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 conj _ _ 57 of of ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 wounded wounded ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 59 amod _ _ 59 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 56 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 67 punct _ _ 61 and and CCONJ CC _ 67 cc _ _ 62 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 63 screaming scream VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 67 csubj _ _ 64 of of ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 65 frightened frighten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 66 amod _ _ 66 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 63 obl _ _ 67 destroyed destroy VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 68 peace peace NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 69 , , PUNCT , _ 76 punct _ _ 70 and and CCONJ CC _ 76 cc _ _ 71 over over ADP IN _ 76 case _ _ 72 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 76 nsubj _ _ 73 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 76 cop _ _ 74 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 76 det _ _ 75 rallying rallying NOUN NN Number=Sing 76 compound _ _ 76 cry cry NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 obl _ _ 77 of of ADP IN _ 79 case _ _ 78 Goll Goll PROPN NNP Number=Sing 79 compound _ _ 79 mac Mac PROPN NNP Number=Sing 76 nmod _ _ 80 Morna Morna PROPN NNP Number=Sing 79 flat _ _ 81 and and CCONJ CC _ 84 cc _ _ 82 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 84 det _ _ 83 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 84 amod _ _ 84 shout shout NOUN NN Number=Sing 79 conj _ _ 85 of of ADP IN _ 86 case _ _ 86 Fionn Fionn PROPN NNP Number=Sing 84 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 87 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is a** | past | person | the corner | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **finger** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **choose** | would | a fingered woman | the corner | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **do up** | to-infinitive | a fingered woman *not said here* | woman's hair | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Eventuality | | 5 | **is a** | past | | person | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **select** | would | a ancient man | the spot *not said here* | | | | | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent spot=Theme clause=Attribute | | 7 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | a ancient man *not said here* | | | | | for the tumult of sword on sword; of axe on shield and the roar of the contending parties and the crying of wounded men | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **scream** *speech: express* | gerund | | | | | | of frightened women | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **frighten** | participle | | | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 10 | **destroy** | past | screaming | peace | | | | | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent peace=Patient | | 11 | **is** | past | all | | | the rallying cry | | of Goll mac and the great shout of Fionn | tree rules | | 12 | **roar** | | the contending parties | | | | | | nom roar «event intransitive»: of=agent | | 13 | **cry** | | | wounded men | | | | | nom crying «act transitive»: of=patient | | 14 | **shout** | | | Fionn | | | | | nom shout «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/46/82/) - next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/46/84/) - ↑ back to [Chapter II](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/46/)