---
title: In answer forth they flung their spears: he caught them, And snapt t… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: In answer forth they flung their spears: he caught them, And snapt them on his knee; next, swift as fire, Sprang on the twain, and slew them with his sword, One blow:--anon he loosed their horses’ bits, And they, with madness winged, rejoined the host, Bearing those headless bulks. Who acts: dews, C
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/11/122/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The foray of Queen Meave, and other le…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/) / [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/11/) / 122

# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 11, sentence 122

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In answer forth they flung their spears: he caught them, And snapt them on his knee; next, swift as fire, Sprang on the twain, and slew them with his sword, One blow:--anon he loosed their horses’ bits, And they, with madness winged, rejoined the host, Bearing those headless bulks.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dews, Cuchullain, madness · **What happens:** fling, catch, snapt, slay, loose, wing · **To what, where:** spears, answer, dews, knee, anon, host

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dews, Cuchullain, madness), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78491:11:124
# text = In answer forth they flung their spears: he caught them, And snapt them on his knee; next, swift as fire, Sprang on the twain, and slew them with his sword, One blow:--anon he loosed their horses’ bits, And they, with madness winged, rejoined the host, Bearing those headless bulks.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
3	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	snapt	snapt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	next	next	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	swift	swift	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	Sprang	Sprang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	twain	twain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	nummod	_	_
39	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	anon	anon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	loosed	loose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	’	's	PART	POS	_	46	case	_	_
48	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
54	madness	madness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
55	winged	wing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
57	rejoined	rejoin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
61	Bearing	bear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	57	advcl	_	_
62	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	64	det	_	_
63	headless	headless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	bulks	bulk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fling** | past | dews *= dew* | dews's spears |  | answer |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent spear=Theme in answer=Destination |
| 2 | **catch** | past | Cuchullain | dews *= dew* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **snapt** | infinitive | Cuchullain *not said here* | dews *= dew* |  | Cuchullain's knee |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **slay** | past | dews *= dew* *not said here* | dews *= dew* |  |  |  | with Cuchullain's sword and One blow | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with sword=Instrument |
| 5 | **loose** | past | Cuchullain | anon |  |  |  | dews's horses's bits *obj*; dews *= dew* *conj* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent bit=Patient |
| 6 | **wing** | past | madness |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **rejoin** | past | Cuchullain *not said here* | the host |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent host=Patient |
| 8 | **bear** | gerund | Cuchullain *not said here* | that headless bulks |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bulk=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/11/121/)
- next →: [sentence 123](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/11/123/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/11/)