---
title: In his hand were two spears of silver, well-tempered, headed with st… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In his hand were two spears of silver, well-tempered, headed with steel, of an edge to wound the wind and cause blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-drop from the blade of reed grass upon the earth when the dew of June is at its heaviest. Who acts: hand, blood, dew. A sentence of «Cel
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Wooing of Olwen, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In his hand were two spears of silver, well-tempered, headed with steel, of an edge to wound the wind and cause blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-drop from the blade of reed grass upon the earth when the dew of June is at its heaviest.

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**Who acts:** hand, blood, dew · **What happens:** be, temper, head, wound, cause, flow · **To what, where:** two spears, swifter, wind, blood

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Wooing of Olwen. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hand, blood, dew), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7885:17:6
# text = In his hand were two spears of silver, well-tempered, headed with steel, of an edge to wound the wind and cause blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-drop from the blade of reed grass upon the earth when the dew of June is at its heaviest.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	well	well	INTJ	UH	_	12	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	tempered	temper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	headed	head	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	wound	wound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
27	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	swifter	swifter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
33	than	than	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	fall	fall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
41	from	from	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	reed	reed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
47	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	58	advmod	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	dew	dew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	June	June	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	_
55	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
56	at	at	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	heaviest	heavy	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | briar's hand |  |  | two spears |  | of silver | tree rules |
| 2 | **temper** | participle |  | swifter than the fall of the dew drop from the blade of reed grass upon the earth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **head** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with steel | vn conduct-111.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **wound** | to-infinitive |  | the wind |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus wind=Experiencer |
| 5 | **cause** | infinitive |  | blood |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **flow** | to-infinitive | blood *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | present | the dew of June |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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