---
title: Until very modern times, history was the one absorbing pursuit of th… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: Until very modern times, history was the one absorbing pursuit of the Irish secular intellect, the delight of the noble, and the solace of the vile. Who acts: history, one, noble. A sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 1, with i
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 1, sentence 70

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Until very modern times, history was the one absorbing pursuit of the Irish secular intellect, the delight of the noble, and the solace of the vile.

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**Who acts:** history, one, noble · **What happens:** be, absorb, pursue, delight · **To what, where:** one, pursuit, Irish secular intellect

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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 (history, one, noble), 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:pg8109:1:70
# text = Until very modern times, history was the one absorbing pursuit of the Irish secular intellect, the delight of the noble, and the solace of the vile.
1	Until	until	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	modern	modern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	absorbing	absorb	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	pursuit	pursuit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	secular	secular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	intellect	intellect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	delight	delight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	noble	noble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	solace	solace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
27	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	vile	vile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | modern times's history | the one |  |  |  | the solace *appos* | tree rules |
| 2 | **absorb** | gerund | the one *not said here* | pursuit of the Irish secular intellect |  |  |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal pursuit=Theme |
| 3 | **pursue** |  |  | the Irish secular intellect |  |  |  |  | nom pursuit «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **delight** |  | the noble |  |  |  |  |  | nom delight «feeling intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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