---
title: The herald’s task discharged, He answered thus, not turning; ‘Tell y… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: The herald’s task discharged, He answered thus, not turning; ‘Tell your queen That I, a Firbolg, serve, but not for hire, A cause not mine. Who acts: task, herald. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 13, with its depend
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 13, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The herald’s task discharged, He answered thus, not turning; ‘Tell your queen That I, a Firbolg, serve, but not for hire, A cause not mine.

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**Who acts:** task, herald · **What happens:** discharge, answer, not turn, tell, task · **To what, where:** task, queen · **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 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (task, herald), 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:pg78491:13:21
# text = The herald’s task discharged, He answered thus, not turning; ‘Tell your queen That I, a Firbolg, serve, but not for hire, A cause not mine.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	herald	herald	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	’s	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	discharged	discharge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
16	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	nsubj	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Firbolg	Firbolg	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	serve	serve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	hire	hire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discharge** | participle |  | the herald's task *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the herald's task |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **turn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | the herald's task *not said here* |  | your queen  I and serve |  |  | for hire and a cause  mine | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent queen=Recipient |
| 5 | **task** |  | the herald |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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