Legends of the conquest of Spain, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government., sentence 35
[4] It was scarcely possible to recognise, in these idle wassailers and soft voluptuaries, the descendants of the stern and frugal warriors of the frozen north; who had braved flood and mountain, and heat and cold, and had battled their way to empire across half a world in arms.
Who acts: 4 · What happens: be, recognise, freeze, brave, battle · To what, where: idle wassailers, stern warriors, flood, way, world
This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (4), 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 | [ | [ | PUNCT | _ | 7 possible | punct |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 7 possible | nsubj |
| 3 | ] | ] | PUNCT | _ | 2 4 | punct |
| 4 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 possible | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 possible | cop |
| 6 | scarcely | scarcely | ADV | _ | 7 possible | advmod |
| 7 | possible | possible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 recognise | mark |
| 9 | recognise | recognise | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 possible | csubj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 wassailers | punct |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 wassailers | case |
| 12 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 14 wassailers | det |
| 13 | idle | idle | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 wassailers | amod |
| 14 | wassailers | wassailer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 recognise | obj |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 voluptuaries | cc |
| 16 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 voluptuaries | amod |
| 17 | voluptuaries | voluptuary | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 wassailers | conj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 descendants | punct |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 descendants | det |
| 20 | descendants | descendant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 wassailers | conj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 warriors | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 warriors | det |
| 23 | stern | stern | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 warriors | amod |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 frugal | cc |
| 25 | frugal | frugal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 stern | conj |
| 26 | warriors | warrior | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 descendants | nmod |
| 27 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 29 frozen | mark |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 frozen | det |
| 29 | frozen | freeze | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 26 warriors | acl |
| 30 | north | north | ADV | _ | 29 frozen | advmod |
| 31 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 braved | punct |
| 32 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 34 braved | nsubj |
| 33 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 braved | aux |
| 34 | braved | brave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 29 frozen | conj |
| 35 | flood | flood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 braved | obj |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 mountain | cc |
| 37 | mountain | mountain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 flood | conj |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 heat | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 heat | cc |
| 40 | heat | heat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 braved | obl |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 cold | cc |
| 42 | cold | cold | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 heat | conj |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 battled | punct |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 battled | cc |
| 45 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 46 battled | aux |
| 46 | battled | battle | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 34 braved | conj |
| 47 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 48 way | nmod:poss |
| 48 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 battled | obj |
| 49 | to | to | ADP | _ | 50 empire | case |
| 50 | empire | empire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 battled | obl |
| 51 | across | across | ADP | _ | 54 world | case |
| 52 | half | half | DET | NumForm=Word NumType=Frac PronType=Ind | 54 world | det:predet |
| 53 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 54 world | det |
| 54 | world | world | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 battled | obl |
| 55 | in | in | ADP | _ | 56 arms | case |
| 56 | arms | arm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 46 battled | obl |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 possible | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | 4 | It nsubj; possible, scarcely property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | recognise | to-infinitive | this idle wassailers and soft voluptuaries and the descendants of the stern warriors | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer wassailer=Stimulus | |||||
| 3 | freeze | participle | the stern warriors not said here | north property | vn other_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 4 | brave | past · perfect | flood and mountain | heat obl; who nsubj | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flood=Theme | ||||
| 5 | battle | past · perfect | flood's way | half world | to empire; in arms | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Co-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/pg77685/3/35/