---
title: Neither he nor his neighbours know or can tell anything about its an… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: Neither he nor his neighbours know or can tell anything about its ancient history; the removed earth will help to make his cattle fatter and improve his crops, the stones will be useful to pave his roads and build his fences, and the savant can enjoy the rest; but the Irish farmer and landlord shoul
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 1, sentence 60

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Neither he nor his neighbours know or can tell anything about its ancient history; the removed earth will help to make his cattle fatter and improve his crops, the stones will be useful to pave his roads and build his fences, and the savant can enjoy the rest; but the Irish farmer and landlord should not do or suffer this.

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**Who acts:** farmer, removed earth, stones, savant, Irish farmer · **What happens:** know, tell, remove, help, make, improve · **To what, where:** anything, cattle, crops, roads, fences, rest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (farmer, removed earth, stones, savant), 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:pg8109:1:60
# text = Neither he nor his neighbours know or can tell anything about its ancient history; the removed earth will help to make his cattle fatter and improve his crops, the stones will be useful to pave his roads and build his fences, and the savant can enjoy the rest; but the Irish farmer and landlord should not do or suffer this.
1	Neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	6	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	5	cc	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
10	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	removed	remove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	amod	_	_
18	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	fatter	fat	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	improve	improve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	crops	crop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
33	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	cop	_	_
35	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	parataxis	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	pave	pave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	roads	road	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	build	build	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	fences	fence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	savant	savant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
48	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	enjoy	enjoy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
53	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	landlord	landlord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	conj	_	_
59	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
60	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	61	advmod	_	_
61	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
62	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
63	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	conj	_	_
64	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	63	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | farmer |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | farmer *not said here* | anything |  |  |  | about history's ancient history | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent anything=Recipient about history=Topic |
| 3 | **remove** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **help** | future | the removed earth |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **make** | to-infinitive | the removed earth *not said here* | farmer's cattle |  |  |  | fat *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cattle=Product |
| 6 | **improve** | infinitive | the removed earth *not said here* | farmer's crops |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent crop=Patient |
| 7 | **is** | future | the stones |  |  |  |  | useful *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **pave** | to-infinitive | the stones *not said here* | farmer's roads |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme road=Destination |
| 9 | **build** | present | the stones *not said here* | farmer's fences |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fence=Product |
| 10 | **enjoy** | can | the savant | the rest |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rest=Stimulus |
| 11 | **not** **do** | should | the Irish farmer and landlord |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **suffer** | infinitive | the Irish farmer and landlord *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |

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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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