---
title: Fionn went to seek his fortune, to match himself against all that mi… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Fionn went to seek his fortune, to match himself against all that might happen, and to carve a name for himself that will live while Time has an ear and knows an Irishman. Who acts: Fionn, that, Time. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VII, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VII, sentence 40

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Fionn went to seek his fortune, to match himself against all that might happen, and to carve a name for himself that will live while Time has an ear and knows an Irishman.

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**Who acts:** Fionn, that, Time · **What happens:** go, seek, match, happen, carve, live · **To what, where:** fortune, Fionn, name, ear, Irishman

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fionn, that, Time), 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:pg2892:20:40
# text = Fionn went to seek his fortune, to match himself against all that might happen, and to carve a name for himself that will live while Time has an ear and knows an Irishman.
1	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	match	match	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	against	against	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	carve	carve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	nsubj	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
27	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	Time	Time	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
30	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
34	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	Irishman	irishman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **seek** | to-infinitive | Fionn *not said here* | Fionn's fortune |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fortune=Theme |
| 3 | **match** | to-infinitive | Fionn *not said here* | Fionn |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 4 | **happen** | might | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **carve** | to-infinitive | Fionn *not said here* | a name |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Theme |
| 6 | **live** | future | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **have** | present | Time | a ear |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Patient |
| 8 | **know** | present | Time *not said here* | a Irishman |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer irishman=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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