---
title: In the battle of Gabra, fought in the third century, and in which Os… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: In the battle of Gabra, fought in the third century, and in which Oscar, perhaps the greatest of all the Irish heroes heading the Fianna Eireen, contended against Cairbry of the Liffey, King of Ireland, and his troops, Cairbry on his side announces to his warriors that he would rather perish in this
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the battle of Gabra, fought in the third century, and in which Oscar, perhaps the greatest of all the Irish heroes heading the Fianna Eireen, contended against Cairbry of the Liffey, King of Ireland, and his troops, Cairbry on his side announces to his warriors that he would rather perish in this battle than suffer one of the Fianna to survive; but while he spoke--

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**Who acts:** Irish heroes, Oscar, troops, Cairbry · **What happens:** fight, head, contend, announce, perish, suffer · **To what, where:** battle, Fianna Eireen, warriors, one, Gabra · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Irish heroes, Oscar, troops, Cairbry), 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:pg8109:2:60
# text = In the battle of Gabra, fought in the third century, and in which Oscar, perhaps the greatest of all the Irish heroes heading the Fianna Eireen, contended against Cairbry of the Liffey, King of Ireland, and his troops, Cairbry on his side announces to his warriors that he would rather perish in this battle than suffer one of the Fianna to survive; but while he spoke--
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Gabra	Gabra	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	11	amod	_	_
11	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obl	_	_
16	Oscar	Oscar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	appos	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	Irish	Irish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	heroes	hero	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
26	heading	head	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Fianna	Fianna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	Eireen	Eireen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
31	contended	contend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
32	against	against	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Cairbry	Cairbry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Liffey	Liffey	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	Ireland	Ireland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	troops	troops	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	50	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	Cairbry	Cairbry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
47	on	on	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	announces	announce	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	warriors	warrior	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	perish	perish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
59	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	61	det	_	_
61	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
62	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
63	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	advcl	_	_
64	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	63	obj	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	Fianna	Fianna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	69	mark	_	_
69	survive	survive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
71	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	74	cc	_	_
72	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	74	mark	_	_
73	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
74	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fight** | past |  |  |  | the battle of Gabra | century |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **head** | gerund | all Irish heroes *not said here* | the Fianna Eireen |  |  |  |  | vn conduct-111.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eireen=Theme |
| 3 | **contend** | past | Oscar |  |  |  |  | against Cairbry of the Liffey; which *obl* | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **announce** *speech: other* | present | Oscar's troops |  | Oscar's warriors |  |  | Cairbry on Oscar's side *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to warrior=Recipient |
| 5 | **perish** | would | Cairbry |  |  | this battle |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **suffer** | infinitive | Cairbry *not said here* | one of the Fianna |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Stimulus |
| 7 | **survive** | to-infinitive | Cairbry *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Cairbry |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **battle** |  |  | Gabra |  |  |  |  | nom battle «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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