---
title: The cats began to search for me through the wood, and they could not… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The cats began to search for me through the wood, and they could not find me; and when they were tired, each one said to the other that they would turn back. ' Who acts: cats, places, one. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cats began to search for me through the wood, and they could not find me; and when they were tired, each one said to the other that they would turn back. '

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**Who acts:** cats, places, one · **What happens:** begin, search, not find, be, say, turn back · **To what, where:** wood, me · **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 (cats, places, one), 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:pg7885:9:87
# text = The cats began to search for me through the wood, and they could not find me; and when they were tired, each one said to the other that they would turn back. '
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	search	search	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	23	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	det	_	_
26	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	obl	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
35	back	back	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the cats |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **search** | to-infinitive | the cats *not said here* |  |  | the wood |  | for me | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for i=Theme through wood=Location |
| 3 | **not** **find** | could | places *= place* | me |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | past | places *= place* |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | each one |  |  |  |  | to the other | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to other=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 6 | **turn back** | would | places *= place* |  |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: 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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