The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 1, sentence 122
The teachers of those days doubtless believed that religion could afford to be indulgent towards minstrels who had been true to such lesser lights as they possessed.
Who acts: teachers, religion, minstrels · What happens: believe, afford, be, possess · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (teachers, religion, minstrels), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 teachers | det |
| 2 | teachers | teacher | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 believed | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 days | case |
| 4 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 5 days | det |
| 5 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 teachers | nmod |
| 6 | doubtless | doubtless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 believed | nsubj |
| 7 | believed | believe | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 afford | mark |
| 9 | religion | religion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 afford | nsubj |
| 10 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 11 afford | aux |
| 11 | afford | afford | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 believed | ccomp |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 indulgent | mark |
| 13 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 14 indulgent | cop |
| 14 | indulgent | indulgent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 afford | ccomp |
| 15 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 16 minstrels | case |
| 16 | minstrels | minstrel | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 indulgent | obl |
| 17 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 true | nsubj |
| 18 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 true | aux |
| 19 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 true | cop |
| 20 | true | true | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 minstrels | acl:relcl |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 lights | case |
| 22 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 lights | amod |
| 23 | lesser | less | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 24 lights | amod |
| 24 | lights | light | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 true | obl |
| 25 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 27 possessed | mark |
| 26 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 possessed | nsubj |
| 27 | possessed | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 true | advcl |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 believed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | believe | past | the teachers of that days | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | afford | could | religion | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | is | to-infinitive | religion not said here | towards minstrels; indulgent property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | is | past · perfect | minstrels | to such lesser lights; true property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | possess | past | teachers = teacher | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
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: «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Project Gutenberg book 78491 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78491/1/122/