--- title: There were old warriors with yard-long beards flying behind their sh… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: There were old warriors with yard-long beards flying behind their shoulders llke wisps of hay, and when these were not nursing a broken arm or a cracked skull, it was because they were nursing wounds in their stomachs or their legs. Who acts: old warriors, long beards, shoulders, these. A sentence o --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/85/8/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Irish Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/) / [Chapter XIV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/85/) / 8 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIV, sentence 8 There were old warriors with yard-long beards flying behind their shoulders llke wisps of hay, and when these were not nursing a broken arm or a cracked skull, it was because they were nursing wounds in their stomachs or their legs. **Who acts:** old warriors, long beards, shoulders, these, skull · **What happens:** be, fly, llke, not nurse, break, crack · **To what, where:** wisps, broken arm, wounds, stomachs This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old warriors, long beards, shoulders, these), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2892:85:8 # text = There were old warriors with yard-long beards flying behind their shoulders llke wisps of hay, and when these were not nursing a broken arm or a cracked skull, it was because they were nursing wounds in their stomachs or their legs. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 warriors warrior NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 nsubj _ _ 5 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 6 yard yard NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 7 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 beards beard NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nmod _ _ 10 flying fly VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 9 acl _ _ 11 behind behind ADP IN _ 14 mark _ _ 12 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 shoulders shoulder NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nsubj _ _ 14 llke llke VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ _ 15 wisps wisp NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 hay hay NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 24 advmod _ _ 21 these this PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 24 nsubj _ _ 22 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 23 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 24 nursing nurse VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 2 advcl _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 amod _ _ 27 arm arm NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 28 or or CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 cracked crack VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 31 amod _ _ 31 skull skull NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 33 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 34 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 35 because because SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 36 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 nursing nurse VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 advcl _ _ 39 wounds wound NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obj _ _ 40 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 stomachs stomach NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ _ 43 or or CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 44 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 45 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | old warriors with long beards | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **fly** | gerund | long beards *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **llke** | past | warriors's shoulders | wisps of hay | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **nurse** | past · progressive | these | a broken arm or a cracked skull | | | | | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Beneficiary | | 5 | **break** | participle | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **crack** | participle | | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **nurse** | past · progressive | skull | wounds | | warriors's stomachs or warriors's legs | | | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wound=Beneficiary | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/85/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/85/9/) - ↑ back to [Chapter XIV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/85/)