--- title: Their fists seemed to grow heavy as lead, and went dingle-dangle at… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Their fists seemed to grow heavy as lead, and went dingle-dangle at the ends of their arms; their legs became as light as straws and began to bend in and out; their necks became too delicate to hold anything up, so that their heads wibbled and wobbled from side to side. Who acts: fists, legs, necks, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/2/) [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 IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/) / 2 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV, sentence 2 Their fists seemed to grow heavy as lead, and went dingle-dangle at the ends of their arms; their legs became as light as straws and began to bend in and out; their necks became too delicate to hold anything up, so that their heads wibbled and wobbled from side to side. **Who acts:** fists, legs, necks, heads · **What happens:** seem, grow, go, become, begin, bend · **To what, where:** dingle dangle, ends, anything, side This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fists, legs, necks, heads), 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:pg2892:59:2 # text = Their fists seemed to grow heavy as lead, and went dingle-dangle at the ends of their arms; their legs became as light as straws and began to bend in and out; their necks became too delicate to hold anything up, so that their heads wibbled and wobbled from side to side. 1 Their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 fists fist NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 grow grow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 heavy heavy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 case _ _ 7 as as ADP IN _ 6 fixed _ _ 8 lead lead NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 12 dingle dingle NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 13 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 dangle dangle NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 15 at at ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 ends end NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 20 arms arm NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 22 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 nsubj _ _ 24 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 25 as as ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 light light ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 xcomp _ _ 27 as as ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 straws straw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 bend bend VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 in in ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 out out ADV RB _ 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 37 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 necks neck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nsubj _ _ 39 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 40 too too ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 41 delicate delicate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 xcomp _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 hold hold VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ _ 44 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 43 obj _ _ 45 up up ADP RP _ 43 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 47 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 51 mark _ _ 48 that that SCONJ IN _ 47 fixed _ _ 49 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 51 nsubj _ _ 51 wibbled wibbl VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 conj _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 53 wobbled wobble VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 conj _ _ 54 from from ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 55 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ _ 56 to to ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 57 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seem** | past | heroes's fists | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive | heroes's fists *not said here* | | | | | heavy lead | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **go** | past | heroes's fists *not said here* | dingle dangle | | | at the ends of heroes's arms | | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location dangle=Theme | | 4 | **become** | past | heroes's legs | | | | | light *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **begin** | past | heroes's legs *not said here* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **bend** | to-infinitive | heroes's legs *not said here* | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **become** | past | heroes's necks | | | | | delicate *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 8 | **hold up** | to-infinitive | heroes's necks *not said here* | anything | | | | | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot anything=Theme | | 9 | **wibbl** | past | heroes's heads | | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **wobble** | past | heroes's necks *not said here* | | | side | | to side | 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 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/3/) - ↑ back to [Chapter IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/)