---
title: And when he had asked his question, and given his own answer to it,… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And when he had asked his question, and given his own answer to it, Finegas would take the matter up and make clear to him where the query was badly formed or at what point the answer had begun to go astray, so that Fionn came to understand by what successions a good question grows at last to a good
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter X, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And when he had asked his question, and given his own answer to it, Finegas would take the matter up and make clear to him where the query was badly formed or at what point the answer had begun to go astray, so that Fionn came to understand by what successions a good question grows at last to a good answer.

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**Who acts:** Fionn, Finegas, successions · **What happens:** ask, give, take up, make, form, begin · **To what, where:** question, own answer, answer, matter, Fionn, query

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter X. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fionn, Finegas, successions), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2892:23:8
# text = And when he had asked his question, and given his own answer to it, Finegas would take the matter up and make clear to him where the query was badly formed or at what point the answer had begun to go astray, so that Fionn came to understand by what successions a good question grows at last to a good answer.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	Finegas	Finegas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
25	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
28	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	33	advmod	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	query	query	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
32	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	33	advmod	_	_
33	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	obl	_	_
37	point	point	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
44	astray	astray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	49	mark	_	_
47	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	fixed	_	_
48	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
49	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
52	by	by	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	51	obl	_	_
54	successions	succession	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nsubj	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
58	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	acl:relcl	_	_
59	at	at	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	xcomp	_	_
61	to	to	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · perfect | Fionn | Fionn's question |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient |
| 2 | **give** | participle |  | Fionn's own answer | answer |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent answer=Theme to it=Recipient |
| 3 | **take up** | would | Finegas | the matter |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent matter=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | infinitive | Finegas *not said here* |  | Fionn |  |  | clear *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **form** | past · passive |  | the query |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **begin** | present · perfect · passive |  | the answer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | astray *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **come** | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **understand** | to-infinitive | Fionn *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 10 | **grow** | present | successions |  |  |  |  | last *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **question** |  | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | nom question «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 12 | **answer** |  | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | nom answer «communication transitive»: poss=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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- ↑ back to [Chapter X](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/23/)