---
title: Marbhan spoke Once more; ‘Lest Erin lose again this Tale Through fra… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Marbhan spoke Once more; ‘Lest Erin lose again this Tale Through fraud of demons or all-wasting time, Amid yon Saints elect some scribe, their best, And pray that scribe to write it.’ Who acts: Marbhan, Saints. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Au
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 10, sentence 101

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Marbhan spoke Once more; ‘Lest Erin lose again this Tale Through fraud of demons or all-wasting time, Amid yon Saints elect some scribe, their best, And pray that scribe to write it.’

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**Who acts:** Marbhan, Saints · **What happens:** speak, lose, waste, elect, pray, write · **To what, where:** Tale, fraud, scribe · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Marbhan, Saints), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78491:10:104
# text = Marbhan spoke Once more; ‘Lest Erin lose again this Tale Through fraud of demons or all-wasting time, Amid yon Saints elect some scribe, their best, And pray that scribe to write it.’
1	Marbhan	Marbhan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Erin	Erin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
9	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
10	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	Tale	Tale	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	Through	through	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	fraud	fraud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	demons	demon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	wasting	waste	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	amod	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	Amid	Amid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	yon	yon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
25	Saints	Saint	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	elect	elect	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
28	scribe	scribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	24	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
35	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
36	scribe	scribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Marbhan |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lose** | present | Marbhan *not said here* | this Tale |  | fraud of demons or all wasting time and Amid yon | again | lest Erin | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Eventuality |
| 3 | **waste** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **elect** | present | Saints | some scribe |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scribe=Theme |
| 5 | **pray** | present |  | that scribe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **write** | to-infinitive |  | tale |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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.

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