Legends of the conquest of Spain, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”, sentence 38
He had experienced the folly of opposing the Arabs in open field, where their cavalry and armour gave them such superiority; on their approach, therefore, he assembled all his people capable of bearing arms, and took possession of the cliffs and mountain passes.
Who acts: Theodomir, folly, cavalry · What happens: experience, oppose, give, assemble, take, approach · To what, where: folly, Arabs, open field, such superiority, people, possession
This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Theodomir, folly, cavalry), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 experienced | nsubj |
| 2 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 experienced | aux |
| 3 | experienced | experience | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 folly | det |
| 5 | folly | folly | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 experienced | obj |
| 6 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 7 opposing | mark |
| 7 | opposing | oppose | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 folly | acl |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 Arabs | det |
| 9 | Arabs | Arab | PROPN | Number=Plur | 7 opposing | obj |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 12 field | case |
| 11 | open | open | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 field | amod |
| 12 | field | field | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 opposing | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 gave | punct |
| 14 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 19 gave | advmod |
| 15 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 cavalry | nmod:poss |
| 16 | cavalry | cavalry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 gave | nsubj |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 armour | cc |
| 18 | armour | armour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 cavalry | conj |
| 19 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 field | acl:relcl |
| 20 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 gave | iobj |
| 21 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 superiority | amod |
| 22 | superiority | superiority | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 gave | obj |
| 23 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 26 approach | punct |
| 24 | on | on | ADP | _ | 26 approach | case |
| 25 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 approach | nmod:poss |
| 26 | approach | approach | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 experienced | parataxis |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 approach | punct |
| 28 | therefore | therefore | ADV | _ | 3 experienced | advmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 assembled | punct |
| 30 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 assembled | nsubj |
| 31 | assembled | assemble | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 experienced | parataxis |
| 32 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 34 people | det:predet |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 people | nmod:poss |
| 34 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 assembled | obj |
| 35 | capable | capable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 31 assembled | xcomp |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 arms | case |
| 37 | bearing | bearing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 arms | compound |
| 38 | arms | arm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 capable | obl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 took | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 took | cc |
| 41 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 assembled | conj |
| 42 | possession | possession | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 took | obj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 cliffs | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 cliffs | det |
| 45 | cliffs | cliff | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 possession | nmod |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 48 passes | cc |
| 47 | mountain | mountain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 passes | compound |
| 48 | passes | pass | NOUN | Number=Plur | 45 cliffs | conj |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 experienced | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | experience | past · perfect | Theodomir | the folly | cavalry's approach parataxis; therefore property | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer folly=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | oppose | gerund | the folly not said here | the Arabs | open field | vn amalgamate-22.2-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arab=Patient | |||
| 3 | give | past | Arabs's cavalry and armour | such superiority | Arabs = arab | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient superiority=Theme | |||
| 4 | assemble | past | Theodomir | Theodomir's people | capable property | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent people=Theme | |||
| 5 | take | past | Theodomir not said here | possession of the cliffs and mountain passes | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possession=Theme | ||||
| 6 | approach | cavalry | nom approach «act intransitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 7 | possess | the cliffs and mountain passes | nom possession «act 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: «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/pg77685/31/38/