---
title: “I wonder at that,” Fergus growled, “for Fionn knows well that there… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “I wonder at that,” Fergus growled, “for Fionn knows well that there is not a man in the world has less of a liking for dogs than I have.” Who acts: messenger, Fergus, man. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter III, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I wonder at that,” Fergus growled, “for Fionn knows well that there is not a man in the world has less of a liking for dogs than I have.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** messenger, Fergus, man · **What happens:** wonder, growl, know, be, have · **To what, where:** that, less · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (messenger, Fergus, man), 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:pg2892:30:39
# text = “I wonder at that,” Fergus growled, “for Fionn knows well that there is not a man in the world has less of a liking for dogs than I have.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wonder	wonder	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
8	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	growled	growl	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
14	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	18	expl	_	_
18	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
26	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	liking	liking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
32	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present | the messenger *= messenger* |  |  | that |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **growl** | past | Fergus |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | Fergus *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for Fionn; well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a man in the world *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | present | a man in the world | less |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent less=Patient |
| 6 | **have** *in a quote* | present | the messenger *= messenger* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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- ← previous: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/30/38/)
- next →: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/30/40/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/30/)