---
title: Plainly Fergus spake: Not otherwise than plainly could he speak, A m… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: Plainly Fergus spake: Not otherwise than plainly could he speak, A man to Truth predestined; since his birth By courage sealed to Truth. Who acts: spake, man. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 15, with its dependency 
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 15, sentence 39

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Plainly Fergus spake: Not otherwise than plainly could he speak, A man to Truth predestined; since his birth By courage sealed to Truth.

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**Who acts:** spake, man · **What happens:** not speak, predestine, seal · **To what, where:** courage, Truth, Fergus spake · **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 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spake, man), 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:pg78491:15:41
# text = Plainly Fergus spake: Not otherwise than plainly could he speak, A man to Truth predestined; since his birth By courage sealed to Truth.
1	Plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	Fergus	Fergus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	spake	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
5	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
6	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Truth	Truth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	predestined	predestine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
19	since	since	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	By	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	sealed	seal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Truth	Truth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | could | spake *= speak* |  |  |  |  | man's birth by courage *obl*; plainly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **predestine** | past | a man to Truth |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seal** | participle |  | courage *not said here* | Truth |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to truth=Co-Patient |

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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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