---
title: The two priests stopped, and they stared straight in front of them,… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The two priests stopped, and they stared straight in front of them, and then they looked at each other, and then they looked at the sky. Who acts: two priests, men. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XV, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XV, sentence 24

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The two priests stopped, and they stared straight in front of them, and then they looked at each other, and then they looked at the sky.

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**Who acts:** two priests, men · **What happens:** stop, stare, look

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two priests, men), 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:pg2892:86:24
# text = The two priests stopped, and they stared straight in front of them, and then they looked at each other, and then they looked at the sky.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	priests	priest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	18	obl	_	_
21	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | past | the two priests |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **stare** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | in front of gods | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in front=Theme |
| 3 | **look** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  | then | at each | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=Theme |
| 4 | **look** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  | then | at the sky | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at sky=Theme |

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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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