---
title: From this conservatism and careful following of authority, and the _… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: From this conservatism and careful following of authority, and the _littera scripta_, or word once spoken, I conclude that the distance in time between the prose tale and the metrical originals was very great, and, unless under such exceptional circumstances as the revolution caused by the introduct
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 3, sentence 31

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From this conservatism and careful following of authority, and the \_littera scripta\_, or word once spoken, I conclude that the distance in time between the prose tale and the metrical originals was very great, and, unless under such exceptional circumstances as the revolution caused by the introduction of Christianity, could not have been brought about within hundreds of years.

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**Who acts:** I, distance · **What happens:** follow, speak, conclude, be, cause, not bring about · **To what, where:** word, revolution, conservatism, Christianity · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, distance), 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:pg8109:3:31
# text = From this conservatism and careful following of authority, and the _littera scripta_, or word once spoken, I conclude that the distance in time between the prose tale and the metrical originals was very great, and, unless under such exceptional circumstances as the revolution caused by the introduction of Christianity, could not have been brought about within hundreds of years.
1	From	from	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	conservatism	conservatism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
6	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	authority	authority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	littera	littera	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	scripta	scripta	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
19	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	20	advmod	_	_
20	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	conclude	conclude	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
29	between	between	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	prose	prose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	metrical	metrical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	originals	original	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	very	very	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
43	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	under	under	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	exceptional	exceptional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obl	_	_
48	as	as	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	revolution	revolution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	_
51	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	acl	_	_
52	by	by	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	introduction	introduction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	Christianity	Christianity	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
58	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	62	advmod	_	_
60	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	62	aux	_	_
61	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	62	aux:pass	_	_
62	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
63	about	about	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
64	within	within	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
65	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obl	_	_
66	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
67	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | of authority | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent of authority=Trajectory |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | participle |  | word *not said here* |  |  |  | once *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **conclude** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is** | past | the distance in time between the prose tale and the metrical originals |  |  |  |  | great *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **cause** | participle |  | the revolution *not said here* |  |  |  | by the introduction of Christianity | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition |
| 6 | **not** **bring about** | could · perfect · passive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unless such exceptional circumstances as the revolution; within hundreds of years; about *property* | vn engender-27.1 «NP V NP» |
| 8 | **introduce** |  |  | Christianity |  |  |  |  | nom introduction «act transitive»: of=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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