--- title: Can we believe it possible that the bards, who actually supported th… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics description: Can we believe it possible that the bards, who actually supported themselves by the amount of pleasure which they gave their audiences, would have forsaken those subjects which were already popular, and those kings and heroes whose splendour and achievements must have affected, profoundly, the popul --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/2/70/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/) / [Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., par…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/2/) / 70 # Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2, sentence 70 Can we believe it possible that the bards, who actually supported themselves by the amount of pleasure which they gave their audiences, would have forsaken those subjects which were already popular, and those kings and heroes whose splendour and achievements must have affected, profoundly, the popular imagination, in order to invent stories to illuminate fabricated names. **Who acts:** we, bards, pleasure, subjects · **What happens:** believe, support, give, forsake, be, affect · **To what, where:** truthfulness, bards, audiences, kings, stories, fabricated names 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 (we, bards, pleasure, subjects), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8109:2:70 # text = Can we believe it possible that the bards, who actually supported themselves by the amount of pleasure which they gave their audiences, would have forsaken those subjects which were already popular, and those kings and heroes whose splendour and achievements must have affected, profoundly, the popular imagination, in order to invent stories to illuminate fabricated names. 1 Can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 2 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 possible possible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 xcomp _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 bards bard NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 11 actually actually ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 supported support VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 13 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 12 obj _ _ 14 by by ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 amount amount NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 pleasure pleasure NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 19 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 21 nsubj _ _ 20 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 acl:relcl _ _ 22 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 audiences audience NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 25 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 27 aux _ _ 27 forsaken forsake VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 advcl _ _ 28 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 29 det _ _ 29 subjects subject NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 30 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 31 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 32 already already ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 popular popular ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 36 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 37 det _ _ 37 kings king NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 nsubj:pass _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 heroes hero NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 conj _ _ 40 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 splendour splendour NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 achievements achievement NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 conj _ _ 44 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 45 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 46 aux _ _ 46 affected affect VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 48 profoundly profoundly ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 popular popular ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 imagination imagination NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 54 in in SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 57 mark _ _ 55 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 fixed _ _ 56 to to PART TO _ 57 mark _ _ 57 invent invent VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 conj _ _ 58 stories story NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 obj _ _ 59 to to PART TO _ 60 mark _ _ 60 illuminate illuminate VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 57 advcl _ _ 61 fabricated fabricated ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 62 amod _ _ 62 names name NOUN NNS Number=Plur 60 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 63 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **believe** | can | we | truthfulness | | | | possible *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 2 | **support** | past | the bards | bards *= bard* | | | | by the amount of pleasure; actually *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer themselves=Stimulus | | 3 | **give** | past | pleasure | bards's audiences | | | | bards *= bard* *nsubj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent audience=Theme | | 4 | **forsake** | would · perfect · passive | | the bards | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | that subjects | | | | | which *nsubj*; popular *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **affect** | must · perfect · passive | | that kings that kings that kings's splendour and achievements and heroes's splendour and achievements and heroes | | | | the popular imagination *conj*; profoundly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | | 7 | **invent** | to-infinitive | that subjects *not said here* | stories | | | | | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Result | | 8 | **illuminate** | to-infinitive | that subjects *not said here* | fabricated names | | | | | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Destination | | 9 | **amount** | | | pleasure | | | | | nom amount «possession transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/2/69/) - next →: [sentence 71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/2/71/) - ↑ back to [Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/2/)