---
title: Now, if nothing remained of early Irish history save the dry _fasti_… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, if nothing remained of early Irish history save the dry _fasti_ of the chronicles and the Brehon laws, this would, I think, be a perfectly legitimate object of ambition, and would be consonant with my ideal of what the perfect flower of historical literature should be, to illuminate a tale embo
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2, sentence 55

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Now, if nothing remained of early Irish history save the dry \_fasti\_ of the chronicles and the Brehon laws, this would, I think, be a perfectly legitimate object of ambition, and would be consonant with my ideal of what the perfect flower of historical literature should be, to illuminate a tale embodying the former by hues derived from the Senchus Mor.

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**Who acts:** you, I, tale · **What happens:** remain, save, think, be, illuminate, embody · **To what, where:** nothing, dry fasti, legitimate object, consonant, tale, former

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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 (you, I, tale), 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:pg8109:2:55
# text = Now, if nothing remained of early Irish history save the dry _fasti_ of the chronicles and the Brehon laws, this would, I think, be a perfectly legitimate object of ambition, and would be consonant with my ideal of what the perfect flower of historical literature should be, to illuminate a tale embodying the former by hues derived from the Senchus Mor.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	save	save	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
13	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	fasti	fasti	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	18	punct	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	chronicles	chronicle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	Brehon	Brehon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	legitimate	legitimate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	ambition	ambition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	cop	_	_
41	consonant	consonant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	appos	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	ideal	ideal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	44	nmod	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	historical	historical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	literature	literature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	illuminate	illuminate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
60	embodying	embody	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	59	acl	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	obj	_	_
63	by	by	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
64	hues	hue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	_
65	derived	derive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	64	acl	_	_
66	from	from	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
68	Senchus	Senchus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	69	compound	_	_
69	Mor	Mor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	65	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remain** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | nothing |  |  |  | of early Irish history | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 2 | **save** | imperative | you *not said here* | the dry fasti and the chronicles and the Brehon laws |  |  | now |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fasti=Theme |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | infinitive |  | a legitimate object |  |  |  | of ambition | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | would |  | consonant |  |  |  | with my ideal | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | of consonant | tree rules |
| 7 | **illuminate** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a tale |  |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tale=Destination |
| 8 | **embody** | gerund | a tale *not said here* | the former |  |  |  | by hues | tree rules |
| 9 | **derive** | participle |  | hues *not said here* |  | the Senchus Mor |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from mor=Material |

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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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