---
title: Perhaps it was on Fionn’s account he dreaded the sons of Morna, but… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Perhaps it was on Fionn’s account he dreaded the sons of Morna, but no one knows what Fionn thought of him for he never thereafter spoke of his step-father. Who acts: protection, Fionn, one. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VIII, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VIII, sentence 60

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Perhaps it was on Fionn’s account he dreaded the sons of Morna, but no one knows what Fionn thought of him for he never thereafter spoke of his step-father.

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**Who acts:** protection, Fionn, one · **What happens:** be, dread, know, think, not speak · **To what, where:** account, sons · **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 (protection, Fionn, one), 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:pg2892:21:60
# text = Perhaps it was on Fionn’s account he dreaded the sons of Morna, but no one knows what Fionn thought of him for he never thereafter spoke of his step-father.
1	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dreaded	dread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Morna	Morna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
17	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	21	obj	_	_
20	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
27	thereafter	thereafter	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
31	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | protection |  |  | Fionn's account |  | perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dread** | past | Fionn | the sons of Morna |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer son=Stimulus |
| 3 | **know** | present | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  | of father | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  | of father's step father; thereafter *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: 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:** «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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