---
title: The instant they stepped they stood, bewildered, looking at each oth… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The instant they stepped they stood, bewildered, looking at each other silently, questioningly, and then with one accord they turned to look back whence they had come. Who acts: instant, Mongan. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IV, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IV, sentence 9

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The instant they stepped they stood, bewildered, looking at each other silently, questioningly, and then with one accord they turned to look back whence they had come.

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**Who acts:** instant, Mongan · **What happens:** step, stand, bewilder, look, turn, look back

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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 (instant, Mongan), 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:pg2892:75:9
# text = The instant they stepped they stood, bewildered, looking at each other silently, questioningly, and then with one accord they turned to look back whence they had come.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	bewildered	bewilder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	10	obl	_	_
13	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	fixed	_	_
14	silently	silently	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	questioningly	questioningly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	accord	accord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	back	back	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	whence	whence	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step** | past | the instant |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stand** | past | Mongan |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bewilder** | past | the instant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **look** | gerund | the instant *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at each; questioningly, silently *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=Theme |
| 5 | **turn** | past | Mongan |  |  |  | then | with one accord | tree rules |
| 6 | **look back** | to-infinitive | Mongan *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 7 | **come** | past · perfect | Mongan |  |  |  |  | whence *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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