Legends of the conquest of Spain, Opening, sentence 6

Few events in history have been so signal and striking in their main circumstances, and so overwhelming and enduring in their consequences, as that of the conquest of Spain by the Saracens; yet there are few where the motives, characters, and actions of the agents have been enveloped in more doubt and contradiction.

Who acts: Few events, few motives, agents · What happens: be, strike, endure, envelop, act · To what, where: main circumstances, consequences, actions, more doubt

This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Few events, few motives, agents), 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 events	amod
2	events	event	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 signal	nsubj
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 history	case
4	history	history	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 events	nmod
5	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 signal	aux
6	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 signal	cop
7	so	so	ADV	_	8 signal	advmod
8	signal	signal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
9	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 striking	cc
10	striking	strike	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	8 signal	conj
11	in	in	ADP	_	14 circumstances	case
12	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	14 circumstances	nmod:poss
13	main	main	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 circumstances	amod
14	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	10 striking	obl
15	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 overwhelming	punct
16	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 overwhelming	cc
17	so	so	ADV	_	18 overwhelming	advmod
18	overwhelming	overwhelming	ADJ	Degree=Pos	8 signal	conj
19	and	and	CCONJ	_	20 enduring	cc
20	enduring	endure	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 overwhelming	conj
21	in	in	ADP	_	23 consequences	case
22	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	23 consequences	nmod:poss
23	consequences	consequence	NOUN	Number=Plur	20 enduring	obl
24	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 that	punct
25	as	as	ADP	_	26 that	case
26	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	18 overwhelming	obl
27	of	of	ADP	_	29 conquest	case
28	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	29 conquest	det
29	conquest	conquest	NOUN	Number=Sing	26 that	nmod
30	of	of	ADP	_	31 Spain	case
31	Spain	Spain	PROPN	Number=Sing	29 conquest	nmod
32	by	by	ADP	_	34 Saracens	case
33	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	34 Saracens	det
34	Saracens	saracen	NOUN	Number=Plur	29 conquest	nmod
35	;	;	PUNCT	_	38 are	punct
36	yet	yet	CCONJ	_	38 are	cc
37	there	there	PRON	PronType=Dem	38 are	expl
38	are	be	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 signal	parataxis
39	few	few	ADJ	Degree=Pos	42 motives	amod
40	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	42 motives	advmod
41	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	42 motives	det
42	motives	motive	NOUN	Number=Plur	38 are	nsubj
43	,	,	PUNCT	_	44 characters	punct
44	characters	character	NOUN	Number=Plur	42 motives	conj
45	,	,	PUNCT	_	53 enveloped	punct
46	and	and	CCONJ	_	53 enveloped	cc
47	actions	action	NOUN	Number=Plur	53 enveloped	nsubj:pass
48	of	of	ADP	_	50 agents	case
49	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	50 agents	det
50	agents	agent	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 actions	nmod
51	have	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	53 enveloped	aux
52	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	53 enveloped	aux:pass
53	enveloped	envelop	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	42 motives	acl
54	in	in	ADP	_	56 doubt	case
55	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	56 doubt	amod
56	doubt	doubt	NOUN	Number=Sing	53 enveloped	obl
57	and	and	CCONJ	_	58 contradiction	cc
58	contradiction	contradiction	NOUN	Number=Sing	56 doubt	conj
59	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 signal	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	is	present · perfect	Few events in history			signal property	tree rules
2	strike	gerund	Few events in history not said here		events's main circumstances		vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in circumstance=Location
3	be		Few events in history not said here			as that of the conquest of Spain by the Saracens	tree rules
4	endure	gerund	Few events in history not said here		events's consequences		vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in consequence=Location
5	does	present	the few motives and characters		there		vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
6	envelop	present · perfect · passive	the few motives and characters not said here	actions of the agents	more doubt and contradiction		vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-Theme
7	act		the agents				nom action «act intransitive»: of=agent

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: «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Project Gutenberg book 77685 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/6/

🌲 Legends of the conquest of Spain, Opening, sentence 6

The tree

Pragmatics

Legends of the conquest of Spain, Opening, sentence 6