---
title: A drop of blood Shed by our swords, though small as beetle’s eye, Co… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: A drop of blood Shed by our swords, though small as beetle’s eye, Costs him his life.’ Who acts: drop. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 12, sentence 73

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A drop of blood Shed by our swords, though small as beetle’s eye, Costs him his life.’

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**Who acts:** drop · **What happens:** shed, cost · **To what, where:** drop, life, beetle

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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 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (drop), 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:pg78491:12:75
# text = A drop of blood Shed by our swords, though small as beetle’s eye, Costs him his life.’
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	Shed	shed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	swords	sword	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	though	though	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	beetle	beetle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
17	Costs	cost	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	iobj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shed** | participle |  | a drop of blood *not said here* |  |  |  | by our swords | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |
| 2 | **cost** | present | a drop of blood | drop's life | beetle |  |  |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme he=Beneficiary life=Value |

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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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