---
title: It was a night as still as that which long ago Medea chose on which… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a night as still as that which long ago Medea chose on which to work her spells: nothing moved save the twinkling stars; all below was plunged in sleep, every tree a picture, every leaf seemed carved in stone: only, every now and then, a flying fox burst screeching from a branch. Who acts: br
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, The Descent of the Sun., sentence 41

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It was a night as still as that which long ago Medea chose on which to work her spells: nothing moved save the twinkling stars; all below was plunged in sleep, every tree a picture, every leaf seemed carved in stone: only, every now and then, a flying fox burst screeching from a branch.

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**Who acts:** breath, Medea, nothing, flying fox · **What happens:** be, choose, work, move, save, plunge · **To what, where:** night, spells, twinkling stars, all, tree, stone

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This is a sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, The Descent of the Sun.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (breath, Medea, nothing, flying fox), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg68641:1:41
# text = It was a night as still as that which long ago Medea chose on which to work her spells: nothing moved save the twinkling stars; all below was plunged in sleep, every tree a picture, every leaf seemed carved in stone: only, every now and then, a flying fox burst screeching from a branch.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	still	still	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obl	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
10	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
11	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	Medea	Medea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	nsubj	_	_
22	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	twinkling	twinkling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
28	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	below	below	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	plunged	plunge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	det	_	_
36	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	41	det	_	_
41	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	_
42	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	parataxis	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
47	only	only	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	50	det	_	_
50	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	50	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	56	amod	_	_
56	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
57	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
58	screeching	screech	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	57	xcomp	_	_
59	from	from	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | breath | a night |  |  | still |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **choose** | past | Medea | a night |  |  |  | ago *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **work** | to-infinitive | Medea *not said here* | Medea's spells |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent spell=Material |
| 4 | **move** | past | nothing | Medea's spells *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **save** | infinitive | nothing *not said here* | the twinkling stars |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent star=Theme |
| 6 | **plunge** | past · passive |  | all |  |  | now; then | in sleep | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent in sleep=Attribute |
| 7 | **carve** | past · passive |  | every tree |  | stone |  | a picture and every leaf *nsubj:pass* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in stone=Destination |
| 8 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **burst** | past | a flying fox |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **screech** | gerund | a flying fox *not said here* |  |  | a branch |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **spell** |  | Medea |  |  |  |  |  | nom spell «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, Project Gutenberg book 68641 (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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