---
title: “I am afraid in good truth,” Fiacuil whispered, “and the minute my b… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “I am afraid in good truth,” Fiacuil whispered, “and the minute my business with you is finished I will trot back as quick as legs will carry me. Who acts: Fiacuil. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIII, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIII, sentence 20

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“I am afraid in good truth,” Fiacuil whispered, “and the minute my business with you is finished I will trot back as quick as legs will carry me.

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**Who acts:** Fiacuil · **What happens:** be, whisper, finish, trot, carry · **To what, where:** good truth, minute, Fiacuil · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fiacuil), 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:pg2892:26:20
# text = “I am afraid in good truth,” Fiacuil whispered, “and the minute my business with you is finished I will trot back as quick as legs will carry me.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	Fiacuil	Fiacuil	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nmod	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	ccomp	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	trot	trot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	parataxis	_	_
26	back	back	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	as	as	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	carry	carry	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
33	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Fiacuil |  |  | good truth |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | Fiacuil |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **finish** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | the minute |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **trot** *in a quote* | future | Fiacuil |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** *in a quote* | future |  | Fiacuil |  |  |  | as legs | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |

<!-- .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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