---
title: I was so alone that the sound of a bird in flight, or the creaking o… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I was so alone that the sound of a bird in flight, or the creaking of a dew-drenched bough, whipped me to cover as a rabbit is scared to his burrow. Who acts: I, sound, rabbit. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter V. “Tell on, my love,” Finnian murmured, with its dependency t
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V. “Tell on, my love,” Finnian murmured, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I was so alone that the sound of a bird in flight, or the creaking of a dew-drenched bough, whipped me to cover as a rabbit is scared to his burrow.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, sound, rabbit · **What happens:** be, creak, drench, whip, cover · **To what, where:** me

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter V. “Tell on, my love,” Finnian murmured. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, sound, rabbit), 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:pg2892:6:3
# text = I was so alone that the sound of a bird in flight, or the creaking of a dew-drenched bough, whipped me to cover as a rabbit is scared to his burrow.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
16	creaking	creak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
19	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	drenched	drench	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	amod	_	_
22	bough	bough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	whipped	whip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	cover	cover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	scared	scared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	burrow	burrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **creak** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **drench** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **whip** | past | the sound of a bird in flight or the drenched bough | me |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent i=Material |
| 5 | **cover** | to-infinitive | the sound of a bird in flight or the drenched bough *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | present | a rabbit |  |  |  |  | to rabbit's burrow; scared *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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