---
title: The mind flinches even from the control of natural law, and how much… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The mind flinches even from the control of natural law, and how much more from the despotism of its own separated likenesses, for if another can control me that other has usurped me, has become me, and how terribly I seem diminished by the seeming addition! Who acts: mind, another, I. A sentence of 
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VIII, sentence 7

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The mind flinches even from the control of natural law, and how much more from the despotism of its own separated likenesses, for if another can control me that other has usurped me, has become me, and how terribly I seem diminished by the seeming addition!

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**Who acts:** mind, another, I · **What happens:** flinch, separate, control, usurp, become, seem · **To what, where:** control, despotism, me, other

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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 (mind, another, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2892:69:7
# text = The mind flinches even from the control of natural law, and how much more from the despotism of its own separated likenesses, for if another can control me that other has usurped me, has become me, and how terribly I seem diminished by the seeming addition!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	flinches	flinch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	even	even	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	control	control	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
14	much	much	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	18	advmod	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	despotism	despotism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
21	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	likenesses	likeness	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	another	another	PRON	DT	PronType=Ind	29	nsubj	_	_
28	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	control	control	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
30	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	usurped	usurp	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
39	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
42	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	43	advmod	_	_
43	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
44	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	parataxis	_	_
46	diminished	diminish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
47	by	by	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	seeming	seem	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	amod	_	_
50	addition	addition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flinch** | present | the mind | the control of natural law |  | the despotism of despotism's own separated likenesses |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **separate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **control** *a condition, not said to happen* | can | another | me |  |  |  |  | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **usurp** | present · perfect · passive |  | other |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **become** | present · perfect |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient i=Result |
| 6 | **seem** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **diminish** | participle | the mind *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the seeming addition; terribly *property* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **seem** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |

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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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