--- title: Fionn asked every question he could think of, and his master, who wa… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Fionn asked every question he could think of, and his master, who was a poet, and so an honourable man, answered them all, not to the limit of his patience, for it was limitless, but to the limit of his ability. Who acts: Fionn, master, honourable man, snail. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by Jam --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Irish Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/) / [Chapter IX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/) / 6 # Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IX, sentence 6 Fionn asked every question he could think of, and his master, who was a poet, and so an honourable man, answered them all, not to the limit of his patience, for it was limitless, but to the limit of his ability. **Who acts:** Fionn, master, honourable man, snail · **What happens:** ask, think, be, answer · **To what, where:** question, poet, questions This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IX. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fionn, master, honourable man, snail), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2892:22:6 # text = Fionn asked every question he could think of, and his master, who was a poet, and so an honourable man, answered them all, not to the limit of his patience, for it was limitless, but to the limit of his ability. 1 Fionn Fionn PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 2 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 4 det _ _ 4 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 6 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 acl:relcl _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 poet poet NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 20 so so ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 21 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 honourable honourable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 25 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 26 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obj _ _ 27 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 26 nmod:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 limit limit NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 35 patience patience NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 for for SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 limitless limitless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 but but CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 43 to to ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 limit limit NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 ability ability NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Fionn | every question | | | | to the limit of Fionn's ability; Fionn's master and a poet *obl* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | could | Fionn | every question *not said here* | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot question=Theme | | 3 | **is a** | past | Fionn's master and a poet | a poet | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | a honourable man | | questions *= question* | | | to the limit of Fionn's patience | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality | | 5 | **is** | past | snail | | | | | limitless *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/7/) - ↑ back to [Chapter IX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/)