---
title: When he was in this state the Gruagach said: "I'll tell you what sto… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When he was in this state the Gruagach said: "I'll tell you what stopped my laughing if you set me free." Who acts: cowboy, Gruagach, you. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Shee an Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Shee an Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire, sentence 40

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When he was in this state the Gruagach said: "I'll tell you what stopped my laughing if you set me free."

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**Who acts:** cowboy, Gruagach, you · **What happens:** be, say, tell, stop, laugh, set · **To what, where:** state, you, Gruagach · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

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**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:pg7885:19:40
# text = When he was in this state the Gruagach said: "I'll tell you what stopped my laughing if you set me free."
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Gruagach	Gruagach	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
17	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	ccomp	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	set	set	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | cowboy |  |  | this state |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Gruagach |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | future | the Gruagach *= gruagach* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **stop** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **laugh** *in a quote* | gerund | the Gruagach *= gruagach* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **set** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you | the Gruagach *= gruagach* |  |  |  | free *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient i=Result |

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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:** «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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