---
title: They saw the cave and went into it, but no sooner had they passed th… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They saw the cave and went into it, but no sooner had they passed the holly branches than their strength went from them, and they were seized and bound by the vicious hags. Who acts: Bran, strength. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IV, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/20/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 20

# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They saw the cave and went into it, but no sooner had they passed the holly branches than their strength went from them, and they were seized and bound by the vicious hags.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Bran, strength · **What happens:** see, go, have, pass, seize, bind · **To what, where:** cave, holly branches, Bran

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Bran, strength), 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:pg2892:59:20
# text = They saw the cave and went into it, but no sooner had they passed the holly branches than their strength went from them, and they were seized and bound by the vicious hags.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	holly	holly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
19	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
23	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	bound	bind	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	conj	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	vicious	vicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	hags	hag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | Bran | the cave |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cave=Stimulus |
| 2 | **go** | past | Bran *not said here* |  |  | cave |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into it=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **have** | past | Bran *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **pass** | past | Bran | the holly branches |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme branch=Trajectory |
| 5 | **go** | past | Bran's strength |  |  |  |  | from Bran | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from they=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **seize** | past · passive |  | Bran |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **bind** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by the vicious hags | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/19/)
- next →: [sentence 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/21/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/59/)