---
title: It happened, when the two sisters were walking by the seashore, that… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It happened, when the two sisters were walking by the seashore, that a little cowboy was down by the water minding cattle, and saw Fair push Trembling into the sea; and next day, when the tide came in, he saw the whale swim up and throw her out on the sand. Who acts: It, two sisters, little cowboy, 
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Fair, Brown, and Trembling, sentence 134

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It happened, when the two sisters were walking by the seashore, that a little cowboy was down by the water minding cattle, and saw Fair push Trembling into the sea; and next day, when the tide came in, he saw the whale swim up and throw her out on the sand.

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**Who acts:** It, two sisters, little cowboy, Fair push, tide, whale · **What happens:** happen, walk, be, mind, see, tremble · **To what, where:** cattle, Fair push, sea, sister, sand · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Fair, Brown, and Trembling. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, two sisters, little cowboy, Fair push), 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:pg7885:23:134
# text = It happened, when the two sisters were walking by the seashore, that a little cowboy was down by the water minding cattle, and saw Fair push Trembling into the sea; and next day, when the tide came in, he saw the whale swim up and throw her out on the sand.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	seashore	seashore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	cowboy	cowboy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	down	down	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	minding	mind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
24	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
28	Fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	push	push	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	Trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	acl	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
36	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	42	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	tide	tide	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
43	in	in	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
49	swim	swim	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	ccomp	_	_
50	up	up	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	conj	_	_
53	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	_
54	out	out	ADP	RP	_	52	compound:prt	_	_
55	on	on	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **walk** | past · progressive | the two sisters |  |  |  |  | by the seashore | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by seashore=Trajectory |
| 3 | **is** | past | a little cowboy |  |  |  |  | by the water; down *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **mind** | gerund | the two sisters *not said here* | cattle |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cattle=Theme |
| 5 | **see** | past |  | Fair push |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer push=Stimulus |
| 6 | **tremble** | gerund | Fair push *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **come in** | past | the tide |  |  |  | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **see** | past | tide |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **swim up** | present | the whale |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **throw out** | infinitive | the whale *not said here* | sister |  | the sand |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent she=Theme on sand=Destination |

<!-- .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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