--- title: People began to look at each other questioningly, meaningly, and dar… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: People began to look at each other questioningly, meaningly, and dark remarks passed between them, for they knew that a bad harvest means, somehow, a bad king, and, although this belief can be combated, it is too firmly rooted in wisdom to be dismissed. Who acts: People, dark remarks, bad harvest. A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/65/28/) [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/pg2892/65/) / 28 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV, sentence 28 People began to look at each other questioningly, meaningly, and dark remarks passed between them, for they knew that a bad harvest means, somehow, a bad king, and, although this belief can be combated, it is too firmly rooted in wisdom to be dismissed. **Who acts:** People, dark remarks, bad harvest · **What happens:** begin, look, pass, know, mean, combat · **To what, where:** belief, wisdom 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 (People, dark remarks, bad harvest), 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:pg2892:65:28 # text = People began to look at each other questioningly, meaningly, and dark remarks passed between them, for they knew that a bad harvest means, somehow, a bad king, and, although this belief can be combated, it is too firmly rooted in wisdom to be dismissed. 1 People people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 nsubj _ _ 2 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 to to PART TO _ 4 mark _ _ 4 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 xcomp _ _ 5 at at ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 each each DET DT ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp 4 obl _ _ 7 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 fixed _ _ 8 questioningly questioningly ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 10 meaningly meaningly ADV RB _ 8 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 remarks remark NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 15 passed pass VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 16 between between ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 for for SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 20 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 conj _ _ 22 that that SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 harvest harvest NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 26 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 somehow somehow ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 31 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 36 although although SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 37 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 38 det _ _ 38 belief belief NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 40 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 combated combat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 47 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 43 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj:pass _ _ 44 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux:pass _ _ 45 too too ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 firmly firmly ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 rooted root VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 conj _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 wisdom wisdom NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ _ 50 to to PART TO _ 52 mark _ _ 51 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 52 aux:pass _ _ 52 dismissed dismiss VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 49 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | past | People | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | People *not said here* | | | | | at each; questioningly *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=Theme | | 3 | **pass** | past | dark remarks | | | | | between people | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between they=Location | | 4 | **know** | past | people | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **mean** | present | a bad harvest | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **combat** | can · passive | | this belief | | | | | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Agent | | 7 | **root** | present · passive | | belief | | wisdom | | firmly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | | 8 | **dismiss** | to-infinitive · passive | | | | | | | vn reject-77.2-1 «NP V how S» | 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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/65/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/65/29/) - ↑ back to [Chapter IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/65/)