---
title: So she laughed and mocked him, while he stood before her as it were… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: So she laughed and mocked him, while he stood before her as it were in a swoon, hearing only the music of her voice, and quailing like a coward before the fire in her scornful eyes. Who acts: lady, Hark, end. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, A Sleep and a Dream., 
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, A Sleep and a Dream., part 2, sentence 87

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So she laughed and mocked him, while he stood before her as it were in a swoon, hearing only the music of her voice, and quailing like a coward before the fire in her scornful eyes.

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**Who acts:** lady, Hark, end · **What happens:** laugh, mock, stand, be, quail · **To what, where:** Hark, music, swoon, scornful eyes

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This is a sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, A Sleep and a Dream., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lady, Hark, end), 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:pg68641:4:87
# text = So she laughed and mocked him, while he stood before her as it were in a swoon, hearing only the music of her voice, and quailing like a coward before the fire in her scornful eyes.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	mocked	mock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	before	before	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	swoon	swoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	quailing	quail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
30	like	like	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	coward	coward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	before	before	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	scornful	scornful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | lady |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **mock** | past | lady *not said here* | Hark |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **stand** | past | Hark | the music of lady's voice |  |  | before lady |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before she=Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | end |  |  | a swoon and hearing |  | hearing *conj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **quail** | gerund | Hark *not said here* |  |  | lady's scornful eyes | before the fire | like a coward | vn flinch-40.5 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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