---
title: But a messenger came in at noon, and said that the Danes were so fri… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But a messenger came in at noon, and said that the Danes were so frightened when they heard of the flail coming into Dublin, that they got into their ships, and sailed away. Who acts: messenger, Danes, flail. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Lad With the Goat-skin, with its d
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Lad With the Goat-skin, sentence 97

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But a messenger came in at noon, and said that the Danes were so frightened when they heard of the flail coming into Dublin, that they got into their ships, and sailed away.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** messenger, Danes, flail · **What happens:** come in, say, be, hear, come, get · **To what, where:** Dublin, ships · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Lad With the Goat-skin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (messenger, Danes, flail), 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:pg7885:33:97
# text = But a messenger came in at noon, and said that the Danes were so frightened when they heard of the flail coming into Dublin, that they got into their ships, and sailed away.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Danes	Dane	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	advcl	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	flail	flail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	acl	_	_
24	into	into	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	sailed	sail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
36	away	away	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come in** | past | a messenger |  |  |  | noon |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a messenger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past | the Danes |  |  |  |  | frightened *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hear** | past | Danes *= dane* |  |  |  |  | of the flail | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of flail=Stimulus |
| 5 | **come** | gerund | the flail *not said here* |  |  | Dublin |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into dublin=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **get** | past | Danes *= dane* |  |  | Danes's ships |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into ship=Destination |
| 7 | **sail away** | past | Danes *= dane* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=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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