--- title: And again they stared, until their straining eyes grew dim with tear… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: And again they stared, until their straining eyes grew dim with tears and winks, and they saw trees that stood up and sat down, and fields that wobbled and spun round and round in a giddily swirling world. Who acts: things, straining eyes, trees, fields. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James St --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/54/24/) [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 VII. “What do you see?” Fionn…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/54/) / 24 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VII. “What do you see?” Fionn demanded of the watcher, sentence 24 And again they stared, until their straining eyes grew dim with tears and winks, and they saw trees that stood up and sat down, and fields that wobbled and spun round and round in a giddily swirling world. **Who acts:** things, straining eyes, trees, fields · **What happens:** stare, grow, see, stand up, sit down, wobble · **To what, where:** trees, giddily swirling world This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VII. “What do you see?” Fionn demanded of the watcher. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (things, straining eyes, trees, fields), 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:pg2892:54:24 # text = And again they stared, until their straining eyes grew dim with tears and winks, and they saw trees that stood up and sat down, and fields that wobbled and spun round and round in a giddily swirling world. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 again again ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 stared stare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 6 until until SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 7 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 8 straining straining NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 compound _ _ 9 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 10 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 11 dim dim ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 xcomp _ _ 12 with with ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 tears tear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 winks wink NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 20 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ _ 21 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 22 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 23 up up ADP RP _ 22 compound:prt _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 26 down down ADP RP _ 25 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 fields field NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ _ 30 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 nsubj _ _ 31 wobbled wobble VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 acl:relcl _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 spun spin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 conj _ _ 34 round round ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 round round ADV RB _ 34 conj _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 39 giddily giddily ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 40 swirling swirl VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 41 amod _ _ 41 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stare** | past | things *= thing* | | | | again | | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **grow** | past | things's straining eyes | | | | | dim *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **see** | past | things *= thing* | trees | | | | fields *obl* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tree=Stimulus | | 4 | **stand up** | past | trees | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **sit down** | past | trees *not said here* | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **wobble** | past | fields | | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **spin** | past | fields *not said here* | | | a giddily swirling world | | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in world=Trajectory | | 8 | **swirl** | gerund | | | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/54/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/54/25/) - ↑ back to [Chapter VII. “What do you see?” Fionn demanded of the watcher](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/54/)