---
title: And there's the hardest case in which I ever was; and it seems to me… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And there's the hardest case in which I ever was; and it seems to me that tearing by the cats were harder than hanging to-morrow by the king of Lochlann." Who acts: hardest case, it, tearing. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 102

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And there's the hardest case in which I ever was; and it seems to me that tearing by the cats were harder than hanging to-morrow by the king of Lochlann."

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**Who acts:** hardest case, it, tearing · **What happens:** be, seem, tear, hang · **To what, where:** me

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hardest case, it, tearing), 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:pg7885:9:102
# text = And there's the hardest case in which I ever was; and it seems to me that tearing by the cats were harder than hanging to-morrow by the king of Lochlann."
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	11	advmod	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
19	tearing	tear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	csubj	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	xcomp	_	_
25	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	morrow	morrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Lochlann	Lochlann	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | the hardest case |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **seem** | present | it |  | me |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tear** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | by the cats | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by cat=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** | past | tearing |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **hang** | gerund | tearing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to morrow; by the king of Lochlann | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by king=Location |

<!-- .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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