--- title: It was an age of creative thought, and such thought is difficult to… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics description: It was an age of creative thought, and such thought is difficult to control; but that one of the prime objects and prime works of the bards, as an organisation, was to preserve a record of a certain class of historical facts is certain. Who acts: question, such thought, record, bards. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/5/53/) [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/pg8109/5/) / 53 # Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5, sentence 53 It was an age of creative thought, and such thought is difficult to control; but that one of the prime objects and prime works of the bards, as an organisation, was to preserve a record of a certain class of historical facts is certain. **Who acts:** question, such thought, record, bards · **What happens:** be, control, work, record · **To what, where:** age, certain class 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 (question, such thought, record, bards), 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:pg8109:5:53 # text = It was an age of creative thought, and such thought is difficult to control; but that one of the prime objects and prime works of the bards, as an organisation, was to preserve a record of a certain class of historical facts is certain. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 age age NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 5 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 creative creative ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 10 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 12 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 13 difficult difficult ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 advcl _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 control control VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 19 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 appos _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 prime prime ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 objects object NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nmod _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 prime prime ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 works work NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 conj _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 bards bard NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 as as ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 organisation organisation NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 preserve preserve VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 record record NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 class class NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 historical historical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 facts fact NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 nmod _ _ 47 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 48 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | question | a age | | | | of creative thought; one of the prime objects and prime works of the bards and a organisation *appos* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | present | such thought | | | | | difficult *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **control** | to-infinitive | such thought *not said here* | | | | | | vn enforce-63 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is** | past | | | | | | preserve *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | present | a record of a certain class of historical facts | | | | | certain *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **work** | | the bards | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: of=agent | | 7 | **record** | | | a certain class of historical facts | | | | | nom record «communication 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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/5/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/5/54/) - ↑ back to [Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8109/5/)