---
title: Now Fionn, the son of Uail, was the reverse of Fergus Fionnliath in… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now Fionn, the son of Uail, was the reverse of Fergus Fionnliath in this matter, for he delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one. Who acts: Fionn. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephe
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter I, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now Fionn, the son of Uail, was the reverse of Fergus Fionnliath in this matter, for he delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one.

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**Who acts:** Fionn · **What happens:** be, know · **To what, where:** reverse, matter, everything, setting

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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 (Fionn), 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:pg2892:28:8
# text = Now Fionn, the son of Uail, was the reverse of Fergus Fionnliath in this matter, for he delighted in dogs, and he knew everything about them from the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Uail	Uail	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	reverse	reverse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	Fionnliath	Fionnliath	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
28	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	27	obj	_	_
29	about	about	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	setting	setting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
36	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	39	amod	_	_
37	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
38	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	tooth	tooth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	rocking	rocking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
45	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
46	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
47	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Fionn | the reverse |  | this matter |  | of Fergus | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Fionn |  |  |  |  | in dogs | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | past | Fionn | everything |  | the setting of the first little white tooth to the rocking of the last long yellow one |  | about dogs *= dog* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- /div -->

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