---
title: These two were Bran and Sceo’lan, but if a person were to guess for… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: These two were Bran and Sceo’lan, but if a person were to guess for twenty years he would not find out why Fionn loved these two dogs and why he would never be separated from them. Who acts: person, Fionn. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter I, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter I, sentence 11

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These two were Bran and Sceo’lan, but if a person were to guess for twenty years he would not find out why Fionn loved these two dogs and why he would never be separated from them.

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**Who acts:** person, Fionn · **What happens:** be, guess, not find out, love, not separate · **To what, where:** two Bran, two dogs, Fionn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (person, 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:pg2892:28:11
# text = These two were Bran and Sceo’lan, but if a person were to guess for twenty years he would not find out why Fionn loved these two dogs and why he would never be separated from them.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	Bran	Bran	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	Sceo’lan	Sceo'lan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
12	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
22	out	out	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
26	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
27	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
30	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	conj	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | this two Bran and Sceo’lan |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | a person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **guess** | to-infinitive | a person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **find out** | would | Fionn |  |  |  | year |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **love** | past | Fionn | this two dogs |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
| 6 | **not** **separate** | would · passive |  | Fionn |  |  |  | from dogs *= dog* | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient from they=Co-Patient |

<!-- .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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