--- title: They were but a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: They were but a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst of the loch; but when the General saw this terror of a beast with three heads, he took fright, and he slunk away, and he hid himself. Who acts: arms, General, beast. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Sea-maid --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/21/83/) [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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/) / [The Sea-maiden](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/21/) / 83 # Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-maiden, sentence 83 They were but a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst of the loch; but when the General saw this terror of a beast with three heads, he took fright, and he slunk away, and he hid himself. **Who acts:** arms, General, beast · **What happens:** be, stir, see, take, slink away, hide · **To what, where:** short time, beast, midst, terror, fright, General This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Sea-maiden. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (arms, General, beast), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7885:21:83 # text = They were but a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst of the loch; but when the General saw this terror of a beast with three heads, he took fright, and he slunk away, and he hid himself. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 3 but but CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 7 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 6 advmod _ _ 8 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 34 advmod _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 beast beast NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 11 stirred stir VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 acl _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 midst midst NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 loch loch NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 23 advmod _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 General General PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 23 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 advcl _ _ 24 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 25 det _ _ 25 terror terror NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 beast beast NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 31 nummod _ _ 31 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 35 fright fright NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 slunk slink VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 parataxis _ _ 40 away away ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 44 hid hide VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 conj _ _ 45 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 44 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | arms *= arm* | a short time | | there | | | tree rules | | 2 | **stir** | participle | | the beast *not said here* | | the midst of the loch | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in midst=Location | | 3 | **see** | past | the General | this terror of a beast | | | | with three heads | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer terror=Stimulus | | 4 | **take** | past | the beast | fright | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fright=Theme | | 5 | **slink away** | past | General | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **hide** | past | General | General | | | | | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/21/82/) - next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/21/84/) - ↑ back to [The Sea-maiden](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/21/)