---
title: “But,” said Duv Laca, “if I am sitting in a chair or a seat you are… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “But,” said Duv Laca, “if I am sitting in a chair or a seat you are to sit in a chair that is over against me and opposite to me and at a distance from me.” Who acts: Duv, you, that. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XII, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XII, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“But,” said Duv Laca, “if I am sitting in a chair or a seat you are to sit in a chair that is over against me and opposite to me and at a distance from me.”

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**Who acts:** Duv, you, that · **What happens:** say, sit, be · **To what, where:** chair, Duv · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Duv, you, that), 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:pg2892:83:25
# text = “But,” said Duv Laca, “if I am sitting in a chair or a seat you are to sit in a chair that is over against me and opposite to me and at a distance from me.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Duv	Duv	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
7	Laca	Laca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	over	over	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	opposite	opposite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
40	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Duv |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **sit** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · progressive | Duv |  |  | a chair or a seat |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in chair=Location |
| 3 | **does** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sit** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  | a chair |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in chair=Location |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | against Duv; over *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** *in a quote* |  | that *not said here* |  | Duv |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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- ↑ back to [Chapter XII](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/83/)