---
title: From this department of European antiquities the historian retires b… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: From this department of European antiquities the historian retires baffled, and the dry savant is alone master of the field, but a field which, as cultivated by him alone, remains barren or fertile only in things the reverse of exhilarating. Who acts: historian, dry savant, reverse. A sentence of «E
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 1, sentence 16

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From this department of European antiquities the historian retires baffled, and the dry savant is alone master of the field, but a field which, as cultivated by him alone, remains barren or fertile only in things the reverse of exhilarating.

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**Who acts:** historian, dry savant, reverse · **What happens:** retire, baffle, be, cultivate, remain, exhilarate · **To what, where:** European antiquities, alone master, field, barren things, department

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (historian, dry savant, reverse), 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:pg8109:1:16
# text = From this department of European antiquities the historian retires baffled, and the dry savant is alone master of the field, but a field which, as cultivated by him alone, remains barren or fertile only in things the reverse of exhilarating.
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	department	department	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	European	European	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	antiquities	antiquity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	historian	historian	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	retires	retire	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	baffled	baffle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	savant	savant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	cultivated	cultivate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl:relcl	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	_
32	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
34	remains	remain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
35	barren	barren	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
36	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	fertile	fertile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	_
38	only	only	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	reverse	reverse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	appos	_	_
43	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
44	exhilarating	exhilarate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retire** | present | the historian | European antiquities *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **baffle** | participle | the historian *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** | present | the dry savant | alone master |  |  |  | of the field | tree rules |
| 4 | **cultivate** | participle · passive | historian | a field |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Product |
| 5 | **remain** | present |  | barren things |  | this department of European antiquities and alone master but a field |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thing=Attribute |
| 6 | **exhilarate** | gerund | the reverse *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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:** «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Project Gutenberg book 8109 (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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