Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VI, sentence 5

They might even refer to the ogham wands on which the first words of their tasks and the opening lines of poems were cut; and it is likely that, being new to these things, they would talk of them to a youngster, and, thinking that his wits could be no better than their own, they might have explained to him how ogham was written.

Who acts: poets, brink, wits · What happens: refer, cut, be, talk, think, not be · To what, where: first words, ogham wands, poets, Fionn, ogham, tasks · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VI. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poets, brink, wits), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	They	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 refer	nsubj
2	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 refer	aux
3	even	even	ADV	_	4 refer	advmod
4	refer	refer	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
5	to	to	ADP	_	8 wands	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 wands	det
7	ogham	ogham	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 wands	compound
8	wands	wand	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 refer	obl
9	on	on	ADP	_	10 which	case
10	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	24 cut	obl
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 words	det
12	first	first	ADJ	Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord	13 words	amod
13	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	24 cut	nsubj:pass
14	of	of	ADP	_	16 tasks	case
15	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	16 tasks	nmod:poss
16	tasks	task	NOUN	Number=Plur	13 words	nmod
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 lines	cc
18	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	20 lines	det
19	opening	opening	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 lines	amod
20	lines	line	NOUN	Number=Plur	16 tasks	conj
21	of	of	ADP	_	22 poems	case
22	poems	poem	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 lines	nmod
23	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	24 cut	aux:pass
24	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 wands	acl:relcl
25	;	;	PUNCT	_	29 likely	punct
26	and	and	CCONJ	_	29 likely	cc
27	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	29 likely	nsubj
28	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	29 likely	cop
29	likely	likely	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 refer	conj
30	that	that	SCONJ	_	29 likely	obl
31	,	,	PUNCT	_	33 new	punct
32	being	be	AUX	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	33 new	cop
33	new	new	ADJ	Degree=Pos	29 likely	conj
34	to	to	ADP	_	36 things	case
35	these	this	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	36 things	det
36	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	33 new	obl
37	,	,	PUNCT	_	40 talk	punct
38	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	40 talk	nsubj
39	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	40 talk	aux
40	talk	talk	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 refer	conj
41	of	of	ADP	_	42 them	case
42	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	40 talk	obl
43	to	to	ADP	_	45 youngster	case
44	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	45 youngster	det
45	youngster	youngster	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 talk	obl
46	,	,	PUNCT	_	64 explained	punct
47	and	and	CCONJ	_	64 explained	cc
48	,	,	PUNCT	_	49 thinking	punct
49	thinking	think	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	64 explained	csubj:pass
50	that	that	SCONJ	_	56 better	mark
51	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	52 wits	nmod:poss
52	wits	wit	NOUN	Number=Plur	56 better	nsubj
53	could	could	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	56 better	aux
54	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	56 better	cop
55	no	no	ADV	_	56 better	advmod
56	better	good	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	49 thinking	ccomp
57	than	than	ADP	_	59 own	case
58	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	59 own	nmod:poss
59	own	own	ADJ	Degree=Pos	56 better	obl
60	,	,	PUNCT	_	49 thinking	punct
61	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	64 explained	nsubj:pass
62	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	64 explained	aux
63	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	64 explained	aux
64	explained	explain	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 refer	advcl
65	to	to	ADP	_	66 him	case
66	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	64 explained	obl
67	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	70 written	advmod
68	ogham	ogham	NOUN	Number=Sing	70 written	nsubj:pass
69	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	70 written	aux:pass
70	written	write	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	64 explained	ccomp
71	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 refer	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	refer	might	poets = poet				to the ogham wands	vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to wand=Co-Theme
2	cut	past · passive		the first words of poets's tasks and the opening lines of poems		the ogham wands		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product
3	is	present	brink				likely property	tree rules
4	is	gerund	brink not said here				to this things; new property	tree rules
5	talk	would	poets = poet				of words = word; to a youngster	vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to youngster=Co-Agent
6	think speech: other	gerund						vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
7	not is	could	Fionn's wits				than poets's own; good property	tree rules
8	explain speech: assert	might · perfect · passive		poets = poet	Fionn			tree rules
9	write	past · passive		ogham				vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme
10	word			poets's tasks and the opening lines of poems				nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient
11	task		poets = poet					nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent

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.

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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