---
title: “That would not be very easy,” said the poet, “and yet it is not as… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “That would not be very easy,” said the poet, “and yet it is not as easy as that, for the bush can only be found by its own knowledge, and that knowledge can only be got by eating the nuts, and the nuts can only be got by eating the salmon.” Who acts: That, poet, own knowledge. A sentence of «Irish 
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IX, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“That would not be very easy,” said the poet, “and yet it is not as easy as that, for the bush can only be found by its own knowledge, and that knowledge can only be got by eating the nuts, and the nuts can only be got by eating the salmon.”

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**Who acts:** That, poet, own knowledge · **What happens:** not be, say, find, get, eat · **To what, where:** bush, knowledge, nuts, salmon · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

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**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:pg2892:22:51
# text = “That would not be very easy,” said the poet, “and yet it is not as easy as that, for the bush can only be found by its own knowledge, and that knowledge can only be got by eating the nuts, and the nuts can only be got by eating the salmon.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	expl	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	only	only	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
38	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	det	_	_
39	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
40	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	only	only	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
42	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
44	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
45	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	nuts	nut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
53	only	only	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	aux:pass	_	_
55	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
56	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
57	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	55	advcl	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	salmon	salmon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	55	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | would | That |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the poet |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  | yet | as that; easy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** *in a quote* | can · passive | Salmon's own knowledge | the bush |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Topic |
| 5 | **get** *in a quote* | can · passive |  | that knowledge |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 6 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund |  | the nuts |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nut=Patient |
| 7 | **get** *in a quote* | can · passive |  | the nuts |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 8 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund |  | the salmon |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salmon=Patient |

<!-- .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 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/50/)
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- ↑ back to [Chapter IX](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2892/22/)