Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 4, sentence 11
If we are to suppose Macpherson faithfully to have written down, printed, and published the floating disconnected poems which he found lingering in the Scotch highlands, how small, comparatively, would be their value as indications of antique thought and feeling, reduced then for the first time to writing, sixteen hundred years after the time of Ossian and his heroes, in a country not the home of those heroes, and destitute of the regular bardic organisation.
Who acts: we, floating disconnected poems, you · What happens: be, write down, print, publish, float, disconnect · To what, where: floating disconnected poems, country, Scotch highlands, value, antique thought
This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, floating disconnected poems, you), 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 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 5 suppose | mark |
| 2 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 suppose | nsubj |
| 3 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 suppose | cop |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 suppose | mark |
| 5 | suppose | suppose | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 79 destitute | advcl |
| 6 | Macpherson | Macpherson | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 suppose | obj |
| 7 | faithfully | faithfully | ADV | _ | 10 written | advmod |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 written | mark |
| 9 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 10 written | aux |
| 10 | written | write | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 5 suppose | advcl |
| 11 | down | down | ADP | _ | 10 written | compound:prt |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 printed | punct |
| 13 | printed | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 10 written | conj | |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 published | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 published | cc |
| 16 | published | publish | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 suppose | advcl |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 poems | det |
| 18 | floating | float | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 poems | amod |
| 19 | disconnected | disconnect | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 poems | amod |
| 20 | poems | poem | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 published | obj |
| 21 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 found | nsubj |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 found | nsubj |
| 23 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 poems | acl:relcl |
| 24 | lingering | linger | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 23 found | xcomp |
| 25 | in | in | ADP | _ | 28 highlands | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 highlands | det |
| 27 | Scotch | scotch | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 highlands | amod |
| 28 | highlands | highland | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 lingering | obj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 small | punct |
| 30 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 31 small | advmod |
| 31 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 highlands | amod |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 comparatively | punct |
| 33 | comparatively | comparatively | ADV | _ | 31 small | advmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 value | punct |
| 35 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 value | aux |
| 36 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 38 value | cop |
| 37 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 38 value | nmod:poss |
| 38 | value | value | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 poems | nmod |
| 39 | as | as | ADP | _ | 40 indications | case |
| 40 | indications | indication | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 value | nmod |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 thought | case |
| 42 | antique | antique | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 thought | amod |
| 43 | thought | thought | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 indications | nmod |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 feeling | cc |
| 45 | feeling | feeling | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 thought | conj |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 reduced | punct |
| 47 | reduced | reduce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 value | acl |
| 48 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 47 reduced | advmod |
| 49 | for | for | ADP | _ | 52 time | case |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 time | det |
| 51 | first | first | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 52 time | amod |
| 52 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 reduced | obl |
| 53 | to | to | ADP | _ | 54 writing | case |
| 54 | writing | writing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 time | nmod |
| 55 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 58 years | punct |
| 56 | sixteen | sixteen | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 57 hundred | compound |
| 57 | hundred | hundred | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 58 years | nummod |
| 58 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 poems | conj |
| 59 | after | after | ADP | _ | 61 time | case |
| 60 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 61 time | det |
| 61 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 years | nmod |
| 62 | of | of | ADP | _ | 63 Ossian | case |
| 63 | Ossian | Ossian | PROPN | Number=Sing | 61 time | nmod |
| 64 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 66 heroes | cc |
| 65 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 66 heroes | nmod:poss |
| 66 | heroes | hero | NOUN | Number=Plur | 63 Ossian | conj |
| 67 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 70 country | punct |
| 68 | in | in | ADP | _ | 70 country | case |
| 69 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 70 country | det |
| 70 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 published | obl |
| 71 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 73 home | advmod |
| 72 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 73 home | det |
| 73 | home | home | NOUN | Number=Sing | 70 country | nmod |
| 74 | of | of | ADP | _ | 76 heroes | case |
| 75 | those | that | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 76 heroes | det |
| 76 | heroes | hero | NOUN | Number=Plur | 73 home | nmod |
| 77 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 79 destitute | punct |
| 78 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 79 destitute | cc |
| 79 | destitute | destitute | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 80 | of | of | ADP | _ | 84 organisation | case |
| 81 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 84 organisation | det |
| 82 | regular | regular | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 84 organisation | amod |
| 83 | bardic | bardic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 84 organisation | amod |
| 84 | organisation | organisation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 79 destitute | obl |
| 85 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 79 destitute | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a condition, not said to happen | present | we | Macpherson obj; suppose property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | write down | to-infinitive · perfect | we not said here | faithfully property | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | participle | we not said here | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | publish | past | we not said here | the floating disconnected poems and hundred years after the time of Ossian and MacPherson's heroes | a country the home of that heroes | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poem=Result | |||
| 5 | float | gerund | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 6 | disconnect | participle | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 7 | find | past | the floating disconnected poems and hundred years after the time of Ossian and MacPherson's heroes | MacPherson nsubj | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | ||||
| 8 | linger | gerund | the floating disconnected poems and hundred years after the time of Ossian and MacPherson's heroes not said here | the Scotch highlands | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | is a | would | highlands's value | as indications of antique thought and feeling; highlands = highland nmod:poss | tree rules | ||||
| 10 | reduce | participle | highlands's value not said here | then; time | vn limit-76 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer | ||||
| 11 | destitute | imperative | you not said here | of the regular bardic organisation | tree rules | ||||
| 12 | indicate | antique thought and feeling | nom indication «communication 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/pg8109/4/11/