---
title: “The thing that it is right I should ask,” said Fionn: “the command… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “The thing that it is right I should ask,” said Fionn: “the command of the Fianna of Ireland.” Who acts: thing, Fionn. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XIV, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XIV, sentence 36

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“The thing that it is right I should ask,” said Fionn: “the command of the Fianna of Ireland.”

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**Who acts:** thing, Fionn · **What happens:** be, ask, say, command · **To what, where:** Fianna · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (thing, Fionn), 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:pg2892:27:36
# text = “The thing that it is right I should ask,” said Fionn: “the command of the Fianna of Ireland.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Fianna	Fianna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the thing that Ri |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | should | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Fionn |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **command** *in a quote* |  |  | the Fianna of Ireland |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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