---
title: If letters were unknown in those times, the example of Homer shows h… — Early Bardic Literature, Ireland. · tree and pragmatics
description: If letters were unknown in those times, the example of Homer shows how unlikely the later poets would have been to outrage so violently the whole spirit of the heroic literature. Who acts: letters, example. A sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literatur
---

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# Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 6, sentence 1

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If letters were unknown in those times, the example of Homer shows how unlikely the later poets would have been to outrage so violently the whole spirit of the heroic literature.

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**Who acts:** letters, example · **What happens:** be, show, have, outrage, exemplify · **To what, where:** whole spirit, Homer

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This is a sentence of «Early Bardic Literature, Ireland.» by Standish O'Grady, Early Bardic Literature, Ireland., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (letters, example), 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:pg8109:6:1
# text = If letters were unknown in those times, the example of Homer shows how unlikely the later poets would have been to outrage so violently the whole spirit of the heroic literature.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Homer	Homer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	shows	show	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
15	unlikely	unlikely	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	later	late	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	amod	_	_
18	poets	poet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
20	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
21	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	xcomp	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	outrage	outrage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	violently	violently	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	heroic	heroic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	literature	literature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | letters |  |  |  | time | unknown *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **show** | present | the example of Homer |  |  |  |  | unlikely *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | infinitive | the example of Homer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **outrage** | to-infinitive | the example of Homer *not said here* | the whole spirit of the heroic literature |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus spirit=Experiencer |
| 5 | **exemplify** |  |  | Homer |  |  |  |  | nom example «cognition 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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