---
title: And, ever o’er the wave those swans would come To hear man’s voice,… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: And, ever o’er the wave those swans would come To hear man’s voice, and tell their tale to each, Swift as the wind, and whiter than the foam; Yet never mounted they the bowery beach, And still swerved backward from the beckoning hand, Revering thus their stepmother’s command. Who acts: wave, waves, 
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 9, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And, ever o’er the wave those swans would come To hear man’s voice, and tell their tale to each, Swift as the wind, and whiter than the foam; Yet never mounted they the bowery beach, And still swerved backward from the beckoning hand, Revering thus their stepmother’s command.

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**Who acts:** wave, waves, stepmother · **What happens:** come, hear, tell, not mount, swerve, beckon · **To what, where:** voice, tale, each, waves, beckoning hand, command · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wave, waves, stepmother), 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:pg78491:9:32
# text = And, ever o’er the wave those swans would come To hear man’s voice, and tell their tale to each, Swift as the wind, and whiter than the foam; Yet never mounted they the bowery beach, And still swerved backward from the beckoning hand, Revering thus their stepmother’s command.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
4	o’er	o'er	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	wave	wave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
7	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	swans	swan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	To	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	Swift	Swift	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	whiter	white	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	conj	_	_
31	than	than	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
35	Yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
36	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	mounted	mount	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	bowery	bowery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	beach	beach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	still	still	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	swerved	swerve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
46	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	beckoning	beckon	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	amod	_	_
50	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	Revering	revere	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	advcl	_	_
53	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
54	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	’s	's	PART	POS	_	55	case	_	_
57	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | would | the wave and that swans |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | to-infinitive | the wave and that swans *not said here* | man's voice |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | the wave and that swans *not said here* | waves's tale | each |  |  | as the wind; Swift *obl* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Topic to each=Recipient |
| 4 | **not** **mount** | participle |  | waves *= wave* |  |  | yet | the bowery beach *obl* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **swerve** | past |  |  |  | the beckoning hand | still | backward *property* | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from hand=Location |
| 6 | **beckon** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **revere** | gerund |  | waves's stepmother's command |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **tell** |  | waves *= wave* |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 9 | **command** |  | waves's stepmother |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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 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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