---
title: Then, when days of storm had passed, the low grey clouds shivered an… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then, when days of storm had passed, the low grey clouds shivered and cracked in a thousand places, each grim islet went scudding to the horizon as though terrified by some great breadth, and when they had passed he stared into vast after vast of blue infinity, in the depths of which his eyes stayed
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then, when days of storm had passed, the low grey clouds shivered and cracked in a thousand places, each grim islet went scudding to the horizon as though terrified by some great breadth, and when they had passed he stared into vast after vast of blue infinity, in the depths of which his eyes stayed and could not pierce, and wherefrom they could scarcely be withdrawn.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** grim islet, islet, eyes · **What happens:** pass, shiver, crack, go, scud, stare · **To what, where:** days, low grey clouds, thousand places, horizon, storms, wherefrom

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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 (grim islet, islet, eyes), 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:pg2892:66:14
# text = Then, when days of storm had passed, the low grey clouds shivered and cracked in a thousand places, each grim islet went scudding to the horizon as though terrified by some great breadth, and when they had passed he stared into vast after vast of blue infinity, in the depths of which his eyes stayed and could not pierce, and wherefrom they could scarcely be withdrawn.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
4	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	shivered	shiver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	cracked	crack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
23	grim	grim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	islet	islet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
26	scudding	scud	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	xcomp	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	horizon	horizon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	though	though	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	terrified	terrified	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	ccomp	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
35	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	breadth	breadth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
39	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	advcl	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
45	into	into	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	vast	vast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	obl	_	_
47	after	after	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	vast	vast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	infinity	infinity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	depths	depth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	parataxis	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	60	obl	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nsubj	_	_
60	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	parataxis	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
63	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	64	advmod	_	_
64	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	72	cc	_	_
67	wherefrom	wherefrom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	nsubj:pass	_	_
68	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj:pass	_	_
69	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	72	aux	_	_
70	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	72	advmod	_	_
71	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	72	aux:pass	_	_
72	withdrawn	withdraw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · perfect · passive |  | days of storm |  |  | then | the low grey clouds *obl* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory |
| 2 | **shiver** | participle |  | the low grey clouds *not said here* |  | thousand places |  |  | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **crack** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | past | each grim islet |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **scud** | gerund | each grim islet *not said here* |  |  | the horizon |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to horizon=Destination |
| 6 | **pass** | past · perfect · passive |  | storms *= storm* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: subject=Trajectory |
| 7 | **stare** | past | islet |  |  |  | after vast of blue infinity | into vast | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent into vast=Theme |
| 8 | **stay** | past | islet's eyes |  |  |  |  | of the depths | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **not** **pierce** | could | islet's eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **withdraw** | could · passive |  | wherefrom |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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