---
title: In his own sphere, in his own element, he might have outrun Fionn, b… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In his own sphere, in his own element, he might have outrun Fionn, but this was Fionn’s world, Fionn’s element, and the flying god was not gross enough to outstrip him. Who acts: Aillen, this, flying god. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIV, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIV, sentence 26

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In his own sphere, in his own element, he might have outrun Fionn, but this was Fionn’s world, Fionn’s element, and the flying god was not gross enough to outstrip him.

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**Who acts:** Aillen, this, flying god · **What happens:** outrun, be, fly, not be, outstrip · **To what, where:** Fionn, own sphere, world, Aillen

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Aillen, this, flying god), 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:pg2892:27:26
# text = In his own sphere, in his own element, he might have outrun Fionn, but this was Fionn’s world, Fionn’s element, and the flying god was not gross enough to outstrip him.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sphere	sphere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	element	element	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
14	outrun	outrun	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
15	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’s	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	element	element	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	amod	_	_
31	god	god	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	gross	gross	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	parataxis	_	_
35	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	outstrip	outstrip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **outrun** | might · perfect | Aillen | Fionn |  | Aillen's own sphere and Aillen's own element |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | Fionn's world and Fionn's element |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past | the flying god |  |  |  |  | enough, gross *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **outstrip** | to-infinitive | the flying god *not said here* | Aillen |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot he=Theme |

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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 XIV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/27/)