---
title: Nine times he had come on this mission of revenge, but it is not to… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Nine times he had come on this mission of revenge, but it is not to be supposed that he could actually destroy the holy city: the Ard-Ri’ and magicians could prevent that, but he could yet do a damage so considerable that it was worth Conn’s while to take special extra precautions against him, inclu
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XII, sentence 5

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Nine times he had come on this mission of revenge, but it is not to be supposed that he could actually destroy the holy city: the Ard-Ri’ and magicians could prevent that, but he could yet do a damage so considerable that it was worth Conn’s while to take special extra precautions against him, including the precaution of chance.

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**Who acts:** Aillen, holy city, revenge · **What happens:** come, not be, destroy, prevent, do, be · **To what, where:** mission, revenge, that, damage, special extra precautions

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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 (Aillen, holy city, revenge), 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:pg2892:25:5
# text = Nine times he had come on this mission of revenge, but it is not to be supposed that he could actually destroy the holy city: the Ard-Ri’ and magicians could prevent that, but he could yet do a damage so considerable that it was worth Conn’s while to take special extra precautions against him, including the precaution of chance.
1	Nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
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	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	mission	mission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	holy	holy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	Ard	Ard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	Ri	Ri	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	magicians	magician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	so	so	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	considerable	considerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
51	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
52	Conn	Conn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	’s	's	PART	POS	_	52	case	_	_
54	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl:unmarked	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	_
57	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
58	extra	extra	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	precautions	precaution	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	_
60	against	against	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
63	including	including	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	precaution	precaution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
66	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
67	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past · perfect | Aillen |  |  | this mission of revenge | time |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on mission=Location |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present · passive |  | revenge |  |  |  | suppose *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **destroy** | could | Aillen |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **prevent** | could | the holy city and magicians | that |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer that=Theme |
| 5 | **do** | could | Aillen | a damage |  |  | yet; while |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent damage=Eventuality |
| 6 | **is** | past | revenge |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **take** | to-infinitive | Aillen *not said here* | special extra precautions |  |  |  | against Aillen; including the precaution of chance | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent precaution=Theme against he=Destination |

<!-- .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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