---
title: The best characteristics of Irish legends, a certain swiftness and d… — The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of I… · tree and pragmatics
description: The best characteristics of Irish legends, a certain swiftness and daring, a wildness of invention, a power that in its fiercest moods is often subtly combined with grace, and a tenderness as often alternated with humour, are found chiefly in the earlier. A sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and
---

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# The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 2, sentence 34

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The best characteristics of Irish legends, a certain swiftness and daring, a wildness of invention, a power that in its fiercest moods is often subtly combined with grace, and a tenderness as often alternated with humour, are found chiefly in the earlier.

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**What happens:** combine, alternate, find · **To what, where:** power, tenderness, best characteristics, earlier

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg78491:2:34
# text = The best characteristics of Irish legends, a certain swiftness and daring, a wildness of invention, a power that in its fiercest moods is often subtly combined with grace, and a tenderness as often alternated with humour, are found chiefly in the earlier.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	characteristics	characteristic	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	swiftness	swiftness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	daring	daring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wildness	wildness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	invention	invention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	fiercest	fierce	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	amod	_	_
25	moods	mood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
27	often	often	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
28	subtly	subtly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	combined	combine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl:relcl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	grace	grace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	tenderness	tenderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	often	often	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	alternated	alternate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	humour	humour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
42	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
44	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	earlier	early	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **combine** | present · passive |  | a power |  |  |  | with grace; often, subtly *property* | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V PP.co-patient»: with grace=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **alternate** | participle |  | a tenderness *not said here* |  |  |  | with humour; often *property* | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with humour=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **find** | present · passive |  | the best characteristics of Irish legends and a tenderness |  | the earlier |  | chiefly *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

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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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