---
title: To be alone was no trouble to him who, however surrounded, was to be… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: To be alone was no trouble to him who, however surrounded, was to be lonely his life long; for this will be said of Fionn when all is said, that all that came to him went from him, and that happiness was never his companion for more than a moment. Who acts: trouble, all, happiness. A sentence of «Ir
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VIII, sentence 3

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To be alone was no trouble to him who, however surrounded, was to be lonely his life long; for this will be said of Fionn when all is said, that all that came to him went from him, and that happiness was never his companion for more than a moment.

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**Who acts:** trouble, all, happiness · **What happens:** be, surround, say, come, go, not be · **To what, where:** trouble, Fionn, this, all, companion · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VIII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trouble, all, happiness), 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:pg2892:21:3
# text = To be alone was no trouble to him who, however surrounded, was to be lonely his life long; for this will be said of Fionn when all is said, that all that came to him went from him, and that happiness was never his companion for more than a moment.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	however	however	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
30	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	40	nsubj	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	nsubj	_	_
37	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
40	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
41	from	from	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
45	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	det	_	_
46	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
48	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	companion	companion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	50	conj	_	_
53	than	than	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | no trouble | Fionn |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **surround** | participle · passive |  | no trouble |  |  |  | however *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | no trouble |  |  |  |  | lonely *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | future · passive |  | this |  |  |  | of Fionn | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 7 | **come** | past |  |  | Fionn |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **go** | past | all |  |  |  |  | from Fionn | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme from he=Initial\_Location |
| 9 | **not** **is a** | past | that happiness | Fionn's companion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **be** |  | that happiness *not said here* |  |  |  | moment |  | tree rules |

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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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- ↑ back to [Chapter VIII](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/21/)