---
title: He started then to climb down the tree with a heavy heart, but while… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He started then to climb down the tree with a heavy heart, but while he hung from the last branch and was about to let go, he noticed a tall warrior walking towards him. Who acts: rest, tall warrior. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VI, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/77/25/)

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VI, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He started then to climb down the tree with a heavy heart, but while he hung from the last branch and was about to let go, he noticed a tall warrior walking towards him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** rest, tall warrior · **What happens:** start, climb down, hang, be, let, go · **To what, where:** tree, last branch, tall warrior

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VI. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rest, tall warrior), 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:pg2892:77:25
# text = He started then to climb down the tree with a heavy heart, but while he hung from the last branch and was about to let go, he noticed a tall warrior walking towards him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	warrior	warrior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
34	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	33	acl	_	_
35	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | past | rest |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **climb down** | to-infinitive | rest *not said here* | the tree |  |  |  | with a heavy heart | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |
| 3 | **hang** | past | rest |  |  | the last branch |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | rest *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **let** | to-infinitive | rest *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | infinitive | rest *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **notice** | past | rest | a tall warrior |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer warrior=Stimulus |
| 8 | **walk** | gerund | a tall warrior *not said here* |  |  |  |  | towards rest | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards he=Destination |

<!-- .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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