--- title: It was a hard and a tricky fight, and Goll won it by bravery and str… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It was a hard and a tricky fight, and Goll won it by bravery and strategy and great good luck; for with one shrewd slice of his blade he carved two of these mighty termagants into equal halves, so that there were noses and whiskers to his right hand and knees and toes to his left: and that stroke wa --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/60/16/) [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 V](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/60/) / 16 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V, sentence 16 It was a hard and a tricky fight, and Goll won it by bravery and strategy and great good luck; for with one shrewd slice of his blade he carved two of these mighty termagants into equal halves, so that there were noses and whiskers to his right hand and knees and toes to his left: and that stroke was known afterwards as one of the three great sword-strokes of Ireland. **Who acts:** Goll · **What happens:** be, win, carve, know, slice, stroke · **To what, where:** snap, two, stroke, blade, Ireland This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter V. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Goll), 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:pg2892:60:16 # text = It was a hard and a tricky fight, and Goll won it by bravery and strategy and great good luck; for with one shrewd slice of his blade he carved two of these mighty termagants into equal halves, so that there were noses and whiskers to his right hand and knees and toes to his left: and that stroke was known afterwards as one of the three great sword-strokes of Ireland. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 expl _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 tricky tricky ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 fight fight NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 Goll Goll PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 12 won win VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 13 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 obj _ _ 14 by by ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 bravery bravery NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 strategy strategy NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 conj _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 20 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 luck luck NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 32 punct _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 24 with with ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 25 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 27 nummod _ _ 26 shrewd shrewd ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 slice slice NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 blade blade NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 carved carve VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 33 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 32 obj _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 35 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 37 det _ _ 36 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 termagants termagant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nmod _ _ 38 into into ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 equal equal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 halves half NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 45 mark _ _ 43 that that SCONJ IN _ 42 fixed _ _ 44 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 45 expl _ _ 45 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 nsubj _ _ 46 noses nose NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 nsubj _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 whiskers whisker NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 conj _ _ 49 to to ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 50 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 51 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 54 knees knee NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 conj _ _ 55 and and CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 56 toes toe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 54 conj _ _ 57 to to ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 59 nmod:poss _ _ 59 left left NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 60 : : PUNCT : _ 65 punct _ _ 61 and and CCONJ CC _ 65 cc _ _ 62 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 63 det _ _ 63 stroke stroke NOUN NN Number=Sing 65 nsubj:pass _ _ 64 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 65 aux:pass _ _ 65 known know VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 59 parataxis _ _ 66 afterwards afterwards ADV RB _ 65 advmod _ _ 67 as as ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 68 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 65 obl _ _ 69 of of ADP IN _ 75 case _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 75 det _ _ 71 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 75 nummod _ _ 72 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 75 amod _ _ 73 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 75 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 74 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 73 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 75 strokes stroke NOUN NNS Number=Plur 68 nmod _ _ 76 of of ADP IN _ 77 case _ _ 77 Ireland Ireland PROPN NNP Number=Sing 75 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 78 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | | | | | | hard *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **win** | past | Goll | snap | | | | by bravery and strategy and great good luck | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality | | 3 | **carve** | past | Goll | two of this mighty termagants into equal halves | | | | for one shrewd slice of Goll's blade; to nose's left | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent two=Product for slice=Asset | | 4 | **know** | past · passive | | that stroke | | | | as one of the three great sword strokes of Ireland; afterwards *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus as one=Attribute | | 5 | **slice** | | | Goll's blade | | | | | nom slice «possession transitive»: of=patient | | 6 | **stroke** | | | Ireland | | | | | nom stroke «act 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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/60/15/) - next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/60/17/) - ↑ back to [Chapter V](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/60/)