---
title: Then he sent a messenger to her to say that it was a far better thin… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he sent a messenger to her to say that it was a far better thing to be the wife of the King of Leinster than to be the wife of the son of the King of Connaught, for a king is better than a prince, and Ivell thought that this was as wise a thing as anybody had ever said. Who acts: Branduv, messe
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter XX, sentence 7

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Then he sent a messenger to her to say that it was a far better thing to be the wife of the King of Leinster than to be the wife of the son of the King of Connaught, for a king is better than a prince, and Ivell thought that this was as wise a thing as anybody had ever said.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Branduv, messenger, king, Ivell, this, anybody · **What happens:** send, say, be, think · **To what, where:** messenger, Duv, better thing, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter XX. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Branduv, messenger, king, Ivell), 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:pg2892:91:7
# text = Then he sent a messenger to her to say that it was a far better thing to be the wife of the King of Leinster than to be the wife of the son of the King of Connaught, for a king is better than a prince, and Ivell thought that this was as wise a thing as anybody had ever said.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
15	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	16	amod	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Leinster	Leinster	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	than	than	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Connaught	Connaught	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
43	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	_
45	than	than	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	Ivell	Ivell	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
51	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
52	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
53	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	56	nsubj	_	_
54	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	cop	_	_
55	as	as	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	ccomp	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
59	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
60	anybody	anybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	63	nsubj	_	_
61	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	aux	_	_
62	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	63	advmod	_	_
63	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	56	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | Branduv | a messenger | Duv |  | then |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme to she=Destination |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Branduv *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | messenger | a better thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | the wife |  |  |  | of the King of Leinster | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | than the wife; of the son of the King of Connaught | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | present | a king |  |  |  |  | than a prince; good *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Ivell |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | anybody |  |  |  | ever |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/91/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/91/8/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/91/)