Legends of the conquest of Spain, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked., sentence 10
So addicted were they to war that, when they had no external foes to contend with, they fought with one another; and, when engaged in battle, says an old chronicler, the very thunders and lightnings of heaven could not separate them.
Who acts: Spaniards, old chronicler, heaven · What happens: addict, be, have, contend, fight, engage · To what, where: Spaniards, external foes, one, battle · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Spaniards, old chronicler, heaven), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 2 addicted | advmod |
| 2 | addicted | addict | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 they | cop |
| 4 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 addicted | obl:agent |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 war | case |
| 6 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 they | nmod |
| 7 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 war | nmod |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 had | punct |
| 9 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 11 had | advmod |
| 10 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 had | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 that | parataxis |
| 12 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 14 foes | det |
| 13 | external | external | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 foes | amod |
| 14 | foes | foe | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 had | obj |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 contend | mark |
| 16 | contend | contend | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 foes | acl |
| 17 | with | with | ADP | _ | 16 contend | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 fought | punct |
| 19 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 fought | nsubj |
| 20 | fought | fight | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 had | conj |
| 21 | with | with | ADP | _ | 22 one | case |
| 22 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 20 fought | obj |
| 23 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 22 one | fixed |
| 24 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 28 engaged | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 engaged | cc |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 engaged | punct |
| 27 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 28 engaged | advmod |
| 28 | engaged | engage | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 had | conj |
| 29 | in | in | ADP | _ | 30 battle | case |
| 30 | battle | battle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 engaged | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 says | punct |
| 32 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 28 engaged | parataxis |
| 33 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 chronicler | det |
| 34 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 chronicler | amod |
| 35 | chronicler | chronicler | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 separate | nsubj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 thunders | punct |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 thunders | det |
| 38 | very | very | ADV | _ | 39 thunders | advmod |
| 39 | thunders | thunder | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 chronicler | conj |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 lightnings | cc |
| 41 | lightnings | lightning | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 thunders | conj |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 heaven | case |
| 43 | heaven | heaven | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 thunders | nmod |
| 44 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 46 separate | aux |
| 45 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 46 separate | advmod |
| 46 | separate | separate | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 says | ccomp |
| 47 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 separate | obj |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 addicted | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | addict | participle | vn addict-96 «NP V NP PP.Theme»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 2 | is a | past | Spaniards = spaniard | to war that | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | have | past | Spaniards = spaniard | no external foes | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foe=Patient | ||||
| 4 | contend | to-infinitive | Spaniards = spaniard not said here | no external foes not said here | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | fight | past | Spaniards = spaniard | one | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Co-Agent | ||||
| 6 | engage | participle | Spaniards = spaniard not said here | in battle goal | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in battle=Goal | ||||
| 7 | say speech: assert | present | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 8 | not separate | could | a old chronicler and the thunders of heaven and lightnings | Spaniards = spaniard | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | ||||
| 9 | thunder | heaven | nom thunder «event 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/pg77685/2/10/