---
title: His back was turned to it, and long before he saw it he smelled it a… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: His back was turned to it, and long before he saw it he smelled it and wondered; for he had been sitting as in a daze, musing on a change that had seemed to come in his changeless world; and for a long time he could not tell what that was which made a difference on the salt-whipped wind or why he sh
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter V, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His back was turned to it, and long before he saw it he smelled it and wondered; for he had been sitting as in a daze, musing on a change that had seemed to come in his changeless world; and for a long time he could not tell what that was which made a difference on the salt-whipped wind or why he should be excited.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sun, change, musing, that · **What happens:** turn, see, smell, wonder, sit, muse · **To what, where:** back, succession, changeless world, difference, whipped wind · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (sun, change, musing, that), 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:pg2892:66:17
# text = His back was turned to it, and long before he saw it he smelled it and wondered; for he had been sitting as in a daze, musing on a change that had seemed to come in his changeless world; and for a long time he could not tell what that was which made a difference on the salt-whipped wind or why he should be excited.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
10	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	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	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	smelled	smell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux	_	_
24	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	daze	daze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	musing	muse	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	csubj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	changeless	changeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	52	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
45	for	for	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
53	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	57	obl	_	_
54	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	57	nsubj	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	cop	_	_
56	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	nmod	_	_
57	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	ccomp	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	difference	difference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
60	on	on	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
62	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	62	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	whipped	whip	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	65	amod	_	_
65	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
66	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
67	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	71	advmod	_	_
68	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	71	nsubj	_	_
69	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	71	aux	_	_
70	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	71	cop	_	_
71	excited	excited	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past · passive |  | sun's back |  | succession |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme to it=Trajectory |
| 2 | **see** | past | sun | back |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **smell** | past | sun | back |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | sun *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **sit** | past · perfect · progressive | sun |  |  |  |  | as a daze | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **muse** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | on a change | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent on change=Topic |
| 7 | **have** | past | a change |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **seem** | past | musing |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 9 | **come** | to-infinitive | musing *not said here* |  |  | sun's changeless world |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in world=Location |
| 10 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | sun |  |  |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **is a** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **make** | past | that | a difference |  | the whipped wind |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset difference=Product |
| 13 | **whip** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-1-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 14 | **is** | should | sun |  |  |  |  | excited *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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