--- title: A hard game that was, and at times each of the combatants sat for an… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: A hard game that was, and at times each of the combatants sat for an hour staring on the board before the next move was made, and at times they looked from the board and for hours stared on the sky seeking as though in heaven for advice. Who acts: hard game, hour, moves, sky. A sentence of «Irish Fa --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/69/37/) [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 VIII](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/69/) / 37 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VIII, sentence 37 A hard game that was, and at times each of the combatants sat for an hour staring on the board before the next move was made, and at times they looked from the board and for hours stared on the sky seeking as though in heaven for advice. **Who acts:** hard game, hour, moves, sky · **What happens:** sit, stare, make, look, seek · **To what, where:** next move, hours This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VIII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hard game, hour, moves, sky), 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:pg2892:69:37 # text = A hard game that was, and at times each of the combatants sat for an hour staring on the board before the next move was made, and at times they looked from the board and for hours stared on the sky seeking as though in heaven for advice. 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 game game NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 4 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 5 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 8 at at ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obl _ _ 10 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 14 nsubj _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 combatants combatant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ _ 14 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 15 for for ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 hour hour NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 18 staring stare VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 acl _ _ 19 on on ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 board board NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 22 before before SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 move move NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 26 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 at at ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obl _ _ 32 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 conj _ _ 34 from from ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 board board NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 38 for for ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 hours hour NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 conj _ _ 40 stared stare VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 acl _ _ 41 on on ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 sky sky NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 44 seeking seek VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 43 acl _ _ 45 as as ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 though though ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 47 in in ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 heaven heaven NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 49 for for ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 50 advice advice NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | a hard game | | | | hour; time | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **stare** | gerund | a hour *not said here* | | | | | on the board | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on board=Theme | | 3 | **make** | past · passive | | the next move | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | | 4 | **look** | past | moves *= move* | | | | time | from the board and hours | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent from board=Theme | | 5 | **stare** | participle | | hours *not said here* | | | | on the sky | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on sky=Theme | | 6 | **seek** | gerund | the sky *not said here* | | | | | though *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/69/36/) - next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/69/38/) - ↑ back to [Chapter VIII](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/69/)