---
title: And round him the ants had built up their hills, and his beard and h… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: And round him the ants had built up their hills, and his beard and hair trailed from his head, like creepers, and ran down along the ground, and were covered with leaves: and over his withered limbs played a pair of lizards, like living emeralds. Who acts: beard. A sentence of «The descent of the su
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, An Evil Eye., sentence 68

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And round him the ants had built up their hills, and his beard and hair trailed from his head, like creepers, and ran down along the ground, and were covered with leaves: and over his withered limbs played a pair of lizards, like living emeralds.

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**Who acts:** beard · **What happens:** round, build up, trail, run down, cover, wither · **To what, where:** hand, ants, head, ground, pair, withered limbs

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This is a sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, An Evil Eye.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beard), 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:pg68641:2:68
# text = And round him the ants had built up their hills, and his beard and hair trailed from his head, like creepers, and ran down along the ground, and were covered with leaves: and over his withered limbs played a pair of lizards, like living emeralds.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	round	round	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	ants	ant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	trailed	trail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	like	like	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	creepers	creeper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
27	down	down	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	along	along	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	conj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	43	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	over	over	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	withered	wither	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	amod	_	_
42	limbs	limb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
43	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	lizards	lizard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
50	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
51	emeralds	emerald	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **round** | infinitive |  | hand |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 2 | **build up** | past · perfect · passive |  | the ants |  |  |  | travellers's hills *obj* | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient NP.extent PP.initial\_state PP.result»: subject=Patient hill=Extent |
| 3 | **trail** | participle | hand's beard and hair |  |  | hand's head |  | creepers *conj* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent from head=Trajectory |
| 4 | **run down** | past |  |  |  | the ground |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along ground=Trajectory |
| 5 | **cover** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | with leaves | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: with leaf=Theme |
| 6 | **wither** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **play** | past |  | a pair of lizards |  | hand's withered limbs |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pair=Theme |
| 8 | **live** | gerund |  | emeralds |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme emerald=Location |

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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:** «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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