---
title: However, the short and long of it was, with reverence be it spoken,… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: However, the short and long of it was, with reverence be it spoken, that Fin heard Cucullin was coming to the Causeway to have a trial of strength with him; and he was seized with a very warm and sudden fit of affection for his wife, poor woman, leading a very lonely, uncomfortable life of it in his
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, A Legend of Knockmany, sentence 12

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However, the short and long of it was, with reverence be it spoken, that Fin heard Cucullin was coming to the Causeway to have a trial of strength with him; and he was seized with a very warm and sudden fit of affection for his wife, poor woman, leading a very lonely, uncomfortable life of it in his absence.

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**Who acts:** Fin, Cucullin · **What happens:** be, speak, hear, come, have, seize · **To what, where:** short reverence, Causeway, trial, Cucullin, lonely uncomfortable life, absence · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, A Legend of Knockmany. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fin, Cucullin), 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:pg7885:22:12
# text = However, the short and long of it was, with reverence be it spoken, that Fin heard Cucullin was coming to the Causeway to have a trial of strength with him; and he was seized with a very warm and sudden fit of affection for his wife, poor woman, leading a very lonely, uncomfortable life of it in his absence.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
4	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	reverence	reverence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	Fin	Fin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
20	Cucullin	Cucullin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Causeway	Causeway	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
45	fit	fit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	affection	affection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
55	leading	lead	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
57	very	very	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
60	uncomfortable	uncomfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nmod	_	_
64	in	in	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	66	nmod:poss	_	_
66	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with the short reverence | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive · passive |  | the short reverence |  |  |  | however *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | past | that Fin |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come** | past · progressive | Cucullin |  |  | the Causeway |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to causeway=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive | Cucullin *not said here* | a trial of strength with Cucullin |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trial=Patient |
| 6 | **seize** | past · passive |  | Cucullin |  |  |  | with a warm fit of affection; for Cucullin's wife | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for wife=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **lead** | gerund |  | a lonely uncomfortable life of sauce |  | Cucullin's absence |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent life=Theme in absence=Destination |
| 8 | **try** |  |  | strength with Cucullin |  |  |  |  | nom trial «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **absent** |  | Cucullin |  |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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