---
title: She spake; and on the sands they stept--the Four-- Then lo, from hea… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: She spake; and on the sands they stept--the Four-- Then lo, from heaven there came a miracle: Soon as they left the wave, and trod the shore The weight of bygone centuries on them fell: To human forms they changed, yet human none;-- Dread, shapeless weights of wrinkles and of bone. Who acts: sands, 
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 10, sentence 70

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She spake; and on the sands they stept--the Four-- Then lo, from heaven there came a miracle: Soon as they left the wave, and trod the shore The weight of bygone centuries on them fell: To human forms they changed, yet human none;-- Dread, shapeless weights of wrinkles and of bone.

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**Who acts:** sands, heaven, weight · **What happens:** stept, come, leave, tread, fall, change · **To what, where:** Four, sands, miracle, wave, shore, human forms

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This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sands, heaven, weight), 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:pg78491:10:70
# text = She spake; and on the sands they stept--the Four-- Then lo, from heaven there came a miracle: Soon as they left the wave, and trod the shore The weight of bygone centuries on them fell: To human forms they changed, yet human none;-- Dread, shapeless weights of wrinkles and of bone.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	compound	_	_
2	spake	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sands	sand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	stept	stept	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
15	lo	lo	INTJ	UH	_	20	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
20	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	miracle	miracle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	Soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	trod	tread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	bygone	bygone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	centuries	century	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nmod	_	_
42	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
44	To	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
55	Dread	Dread	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	shapeless	shapeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	weights	weight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	conj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	wrinkles	wrinkle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nmod	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stept** | past | sands *= sand* | the Four |  | the sands |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | heaven | a miracle |  |  | then |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location miracle=Theme |
| 3 | **leave** | past | sands *= sand* | the wave |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wave=Theme |
| 4 | **tread** | past |  | the shore |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location shore=Theme |
| 5 | **fall** | past | the weight of bygone centuries on sands |  |  |  |  | to human forms | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to form=Theme |
| 6 | **change** | past | sands *= sand* | human forms *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Patient |

<!-- .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 foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Project Gutenberg book 78491 (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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