---
title: I had but to stay there crouched the length of the night, holding in… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I had but to stay there crouched the length of the night, holding in my breath in such a way that he might not find out where I was. Who acts: I, leech. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 125

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I had but to stay there crouched the length of the night, holding in my breath in such a way that he might not find out where I was.

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**Who acts:** I, leech · **What happens:** have, stay, crouch, hold, not find out, be · **To what, where:** length, breath · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, leech), 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:pg7885:9:125
# text = I had but to stay there crouched the length of the night, holding in my breath in such a way that he might not find out where I was.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
6	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
7	crouched	crouch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	21	det:predet	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	26	ccomp	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **crouch** | past | I *not said here* | the length of the night |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location length=Theme |
| 4 | **hold** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  | my breath |  | in such way | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in breath=Location |
| 5 | **not** **find out** | might | leech |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | where *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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