---
title: They saw the shapes of the country to which their eyes were accustom… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They saw the shapes of the country to which their eyes were accustomed, and recognised the well-known landmarks, but it seemed that the distant hills were a trifle higher, and the grass which clothed them and stretched between was greener, was more velvety: that the trees were better clothed and had
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They saw the shapes of the country to which their eyes were accustomed, and recognised the well-known landmarks, but it seemed that the distant hills were a trifle higher, and the grass which clothed them and stretched between was greener, was more velvety: that the trees were better clothed and had more of peace as they hung over the quiet ground.

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**Who acts:** front, it, distant hills, grass, trees · **What happens:** see, accustom, recognise, know, seem, be · **To what, where:** shapes, eyes, known landmarks, front, more, quiet ground

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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 (front, it, distant hills, grass), 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:pg2892:75:12
# text = They saw the shapes of the country to which their eyes were accustomed, and recognised the well-known landmarks, but it seemed that the distant hills were a trifle higher, and the grass which clothed them and stretched between was greener, was more velvety: that the trees were better clothed and had more of peace as they hung over the quiet ground.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obl	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	recognised	recognise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
18	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	amod	_	_
21	landmarks	landmark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	trifle	trifle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
39	clothed	clothe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	conj	_	_
43	between	between	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
45	greener	green	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
48	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	49	advmod	_	_
49	velvety	velvety	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	55	punct	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	nsubj	_	_
54	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
55	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	parataxis	_	_
56	clothed	clothe	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	55	cop	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
59	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	58	obj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
62	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
63	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
64	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	advcl	_	_
65	over	over	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
67	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	68	amod	_	_
68	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | front | the shapes of the country |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shape=Stimulus |
| 2 | **accustom** | past · passive |  | front's eyes |  |  |  | to the country | tree rules |
| 3 | **recognise** | past | front *not said here* | the known landmarks |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer landmark=Stimulus |
| 4 | **know** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | the distant hills |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **clothe** | past | the grass | front |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 8 | **stretch** | participle | the grass *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | green *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | past | front *not said here* |  |  |  |  | velvety *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **is** | past | the trees |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **have** | past | front *not said here* | more |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Patient |
| 13 | **hang** | past | front |  |  | the quiet ground |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over ground=Location |

<!-- .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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