---
title: No man knows if he died in those distant ages when Finnian was Abbot… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: No man knows if he died in those distant ages when Finnian was Abbot of Moville, or if he still keeps his fort in Ulster, watching all things, and remembering them for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland. Who acts: man, God. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XI, wit
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XI, sentence 28

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No man knows if he died in those distant ages when Finnian was Abbot of Moville, or if he still keeps his fort in Ulster, watching all things, and remembering them for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.

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**Who acts:** man, God · **What happens:** know, die, be, keep, watch, remember · **To what, where:** Finnian Abbot, fort, Ulster, things, Ireland

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XI. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, God), 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:pg2892:12:28
# text = No man knows if he died in those distant ages when Finnian was Abbot of Moville, or if he still keeps his fort in Ulster, watching all things, and remembering them for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
9	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	ages	age	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	Finnian	Finnian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	Abbot	Abbot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Moville	Moville	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	fort	fort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Ulster	Ulster	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
29	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
30	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	remembering	remember	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	glory	glory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	honour	honour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | no man |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **die** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | man |  |  |  | in that distant ages |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in age=Attribute |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | Finnian Abbot |  |  |  | of Moville | tree rules |
| 4 | **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | man | man's fort |  | Ulster | still |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent fort=Theme in ulster=Location |
| 5 | **watch** | gerund | man *not said here* | all things |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |
| 6 | **remember** | gerund | man *not said here* | things *= thing* |  |  |  | for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 7 | **glory** |  | God |  |  |  |  |  | nom glory «state intransitive»: of=agent |
| 8 | **honour** |  |  | Ireland |  |  |  |  | nom honour «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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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