---
title: When, therefore, Greek still meets Greek in an interminable and appa… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: When, therefore, Greek still meets Greek in an interminable and apparently bloodless contest over the disputed body of the Iliad, and still no end appears, surely it would be madness for any one to sit down and gaily distinguish true from false in the immense and complex mass of the Irish bardic lit
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2, sentence 17

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When, therefore, Greek still meets Greek in an interminable and apparently bloodless contest over the disputed body of the Iliad, and still no end appears, surely it would be madness for any one to sit down and gaily distinguish true from false in the immense and complex mass of the Irish bardic literature, having in his ears this century-lasting struggle over a single Greek poem and a single small phase of the pre-historic life of Hellas.

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**Who acts:** end, gaily · **What happens:** meet, dispute, appear, be, sit down, distinguish · **To what, where:** interminable contest, madness, lasting struggle, ears

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (end, gaily), 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:pg8109:2:17
# text = When, therefore, Greek still meets Greek in an interminable and apparently bloodless contest over the disputed body of the Iliad, and still no end appears, surely it would be madness for any one to sit down and gaily distinguish true from false in the immense and complex mass of the Irish bardic literature, having in his ears this century-lasting struggle over a single Greek poem and a single small phase of the pre-historic life of Hellas.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	still	still	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	meets	meet	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
11	interminable	interminable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	apparently	apparently	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	bloodless	bloodless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
15	contest	contest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	disputed	dispute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	amod	_	_
19	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Iliad	Iliad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	still	still	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
34	madness	madness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	acl	_	_
40	down	down	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	nsubj	_	_
43	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
44	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	_
45	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	obl	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
49	immense	immense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	complex	complex	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	conj	_	_
52	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
55	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
56	bardic	bardic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	literature	literature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
59	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obl	_	_
63	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	67	det	_	_
64	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	lasting	lasting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	struggle	struggle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	_
68	over	over	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
69	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
70	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	amod	_	_
71	Greek	Greek	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	amod	_	_
72	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
73	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	77	cc	_	_
74	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
75	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	77	amod	_	_
76	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	77	amod	_	_
77	phase	phase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	conj	_	_
78	of	of	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	81	det	_	_
80	pre-historic	pre-historic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	81	amod	_	_
81	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	nmod	_	_
82	of	of	ADP	IN	_	83	case	_	_
83	Hellas	Hellas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	81	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meet** | present |  |  |  | a interminable contest over the disputed body of the Iliad | still | greek *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **dispute** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **appear** | present | no end |  |  |  | still |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | would | end | madness |  |  |  | for any one; surely *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **sit down** | to-infinitive | end *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **distinguish** | present | gaily |  |  |  |  | in the immense mass of the Irish bardic literature; from false; true *property* | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent from false=Co-Theme |
| 7 | **have** | gerund | gaily *not said here* | this lasting struggle |  | literature's ears |  | over a single Greek poem and a single small phase of the pre-historic life of Hellas | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent struggle=Patient |

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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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