Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2, sentence 70
Can we believe it possible that the bards, who actually supported themselves by the amount of pleasure which they gave their audiences, would have forsaken those subjects which were already popular, and those kings and heroes whose splendour and achievements must have affected, profoundly, the popular imagination, in order to invent stories to illuminate fabricated names.
Who acts: we, bards, pleasure, subjects · What happens: believe, support, give, forsake, be, affect · To what, where: truthfulness, bards, audiences, kings, stories, fabricated names
This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, bards, pleasure, subjects), 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 | Can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 believe | aux |
| 2 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 believe | nsubj |
| 3 | believe | believe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 4 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 believe | obj |
| 5 | possible | possible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 believe | xcomp |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 forsaken | mark |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 bards | det |
| 8 | bards | bard | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 forsaken | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 supported | punct |
| 10 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 12 supported | nsubj |
| 11 | actually | actually | ADV | _ | 12 supported | advmod |
| 12 | supported | support | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 bards | acl:relcl |
| 13 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 12 supported | obj |
| 14 | by | by | ADP | _ | 16 amount | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 amount | det |
| 16 | amount | amount | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 supported | obl |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 18 pleasure | case |
| 18 | pleasure | pleasure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 amount | nmod |
| 19 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 21 gave | nsubj |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 gave | nsubj |
| 21 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 pleasure | acl:relcl |
| 22 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 audiences | nmod:poss |
| 23 | audiences | audience | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 gave | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 bards | punct |
| 25 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 27 forsaken | aux |
| 26 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 27 forsaken | aux |
| 27 | forsaken | forsake | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 possible | advcl |
| 28 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 29 subjects | det |
| 29 | subjects | subject | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 popular | nsubj |
| 30 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 33 popular | nsubj |
| 31 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 popular | cop |
| 32 | already | already | ADV | _ | 33 popular | advmod |
| 33 | popular | popular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 forsaken | parataxis |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 affected | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 affected | cc |
| 36 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 37 kings | det |
| 37 | kings | king | NOUN | Number=Plur | 46 affected | nsubj:pass |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 heroes | cc |
| 39 | heroes | hero | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 kings | conj |
| 40 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 41 splendour | nmod:poss |
| 41 | splendour | splendour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 kings | nmod |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 achievements | cc |
| 43 | achievements | achievement | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 splendour | conj |
| 44 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 46 affected | aux |
| 45 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 46 affected | aux |
| 46 | affected | affect | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 popular | conj |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 profoundly | punct |
| 48 | profoundly | profoundly | ADV | _ | 46 affected | advmod |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 imagination | punct |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 imagination | det |
| 51 | popular | popular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 52 imagination | amod |
| 52 | imagination | imagination | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 affected | conj |
| 53 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 57 invent | punct |
| 54 | in | in | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 57 invent | mark |
| 55 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 in | fixed |
| 56 | to | to | PART | _ | 57 invent | mark |
| 57 | invent | invent | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 popular | conj |
| 58 | stories | story | NOUN | Number=Plur | 57 invent | obj |
| 59 | to | to | PART | _ | 60 illuminate | mark |
| 60 | illuminate | illuminate | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 57 invent | advcl |
| 61 | fabricated | fabricated | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 62 names | amod |
| 62 | names | name | NOUN | Number=Plur | 60 illuminate | obj |
| 63 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 believe | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | believe | can | we | truthfulness | possible property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | support | past | the bards | bards = bard | by the amount of pleasure; actually property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer themselves=Stimulus | |||
| 3 | give | past | pleasure | bards's audiences | bards = bard nsubj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent audience=Theme | |||
| 4 | forsake | would · perfect · passive | the bards | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | is | past | that subjects | which nsubj; popular property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | affect | must · perfect · passive | that kings that kings that kings's splendour and achievements and heroes's splendour and achievements and heroes | the popular imagination conj; profoundly property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | ||||
| 7 | invent | to-infinitive | that subjects not said here | stories | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Result | ||||
| 8 | illuminate | to-infinitive | that subjects not said here | fabricated names | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Destination | ||||
| 9 | amount | pleasure | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient |
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: «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Project Gutenberg book 8109 (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/pg8109/2/70/