---
title: But in their hearts they were bidding him good-bye, for all were ass… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But in their hearts they were bidding him good-bye, for all were assured that the lad was marching to a death so unescapeable that he might already be counted as a dead man. Who acts: servants, lad. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XII, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XII, sentence 26

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But in their hearts they were bidding him good-bye, for all were assured that the lad was marching to a death so unescapeable that he might already be counted as a dead man.

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**Who acts:** servants, lad · **What happens:** bid, assure, march, count · **To what, where:** Fionn, hearts, all

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servants, lad), 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:pg2892:25:26
# text = But in their hearts they were bidding him good-bye, for all were assured that the lad was marching to a death so unescapeable that he might already be counted as a dead man.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	bidding	bid	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	bye	bye	INTJ	UH	_	9	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	assured	assure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	marching	march	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	ccomp	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	unescapeable	unescapeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
30	already	already	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	counted	count	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bid** | past · progressive | servants *= servant* | Fionn |  | servants's hearts |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **assure** | past · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP.recipient that S»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **march** | past · progressive | the lad |  |  |  |  | to a death *result*; unescapeable *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to death=Result |
| 4 | **count** | might · passive |  | Fionn |  |  |  | as a dead man | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Theme as man=Attribute |

<!-- .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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