---
title: _A fortiori_, the more ancient bards, those of the ruder ethnic time… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: _A fortiori_, the more ancient bards, those of the ruder ethnic times, would have clung still closer to authority, deriving all their imaginative representations from preceding minstrels. Who acts: bards. A sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature,
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 3, sentence 39

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\_A fortiori\_, the more ancient bards, those of the ruder ethnic times, would have clung still closer to authority, deriving all their imaginative representations from preceding minstrels.

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**Who acts:** bards · **What happens:** cling, derive, precede, represent · **To what, where:** fortiori, imaginative representations, minstrels

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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 (bards), 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:pg8109:3:39
# text = _A fortiori_, the more ancient bards, those of the ruder ethnic times, would have clung still closer to authority, deriving all their imaginative representations from preceding minstrels.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fortiori	fortiori	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	8	advmod	_	_
8	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	bards	bard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	appos	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	ruder	rude	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	16	amod	_	_
15	ethnic	ethnic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux	_	_
20	clung	cling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	closer	close	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	xcomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	authority	authority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	deriving	derive	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	imaginative	imaginative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	representations	representation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
31	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	preceding	precede	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
33	minstrels	minstrel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cling** | would · perfect |  | a fortiori and the ancient bards |  |  |  | close *property* | vn cling-22.5 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **derive** | gerund |  | bards's imaginative representations |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location representation=Theme |
| 3 | **precede** | gerund |  | minstrels |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme minstrel=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **represent** |  | bards *= bard* |  |  |  |  |  | nom representation «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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