---
title: They were not so much a class as an organisation and fraternity ackn… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: They were not so much a class as an organisation and fraternity acknowledging the authority of one elected chief. Who acts: bard, fraternity. A sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5, sentence 47

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They were not so much a class as an organisation and fraternity acknowledging the authority of one elected chief.

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**Who acts:** bard, fraternity · **What happens:** not be, acknowledge, elect · **To what, where:** class, authority

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bard, fraternity), 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:pg8109:5:47
# text = They were not so much a class as an organisation and fraternity acknowledging the authority of one elected chief.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	organisation	organisation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	fraternity	fraternity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
13	acknowledging	acknowledge	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	authority	authority	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
18	elected	elect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	amod	_	_
19	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | bard | a class |  |  |  | as a organisation and fraternity | tree rules |
| 2 | **acknowledge** | gerund | fraternity *not said here* | the authority of one elected chief |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent authority=Topic |
| 3 | **elect** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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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