---
title: It is, of course, impossible to make an accurate estimate of the exp… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: It is, of course, impossible to make an accurate estimate of the expenditure of labour necessary for the construction of such a work, but it would seem to me to require thousands of men working for years. Who acts: It, men. A sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Firbo
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Firbolgs and Third Cycle of the Fomoroh., sentence 119

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is, of course, impossible to make an accurate estimate of the expenditure of labour necessary for the construction of such a work, but it would seem to me to require thousands of men working for years.

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**Who acts:** It, men · **What happens:** be, make, seem, require, work, estimate · **To what, where:** accurate estimate, me, thousands, expenditure, labour, work

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Firbolgs and Third Cycle of the Fomoroh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, men), 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:pg8109:10:119
# text = It is, of course, impossible to make an accurate estimate of the expenditure of labour necessary for the construction of such a work, but it would seem to me to require thousands of men working for years.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	csubj	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	accurate	accurate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	estimate	estimate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	expenditure	expenditure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	labour	labour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	construction	construction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	25	det:predet	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	require	require	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
35	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nmod	_	_
38	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	37	acl	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | a accurate estimate of the expenditure of labour |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset estimate=Product |
| 3 | **seem** | would | it |  | me |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **require** | to-infinitive |  | thousands of men |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thousand=Precondition |
| 5 | **work** | gerund | men *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **estimate** |  |  | the expenditure of labour |  |  |  |  | nom estimate «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **expend** |  |  | labour |  |  |  |  | nom expenditure «possession transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **construct** |  |  | such work |  |  |  |  | nom construction «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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