---
title: Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with all the wild extravagances of an oriental imagination; which afterwards stole into the graver works of the monkish historians. Who acts: writer. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Was
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Opening, sentence 12

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Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with all the wild extravagances of an oriental imagination; which afterwards stole into the graver works of the monkish historians.

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**Who acts:** writer · **What happens:** undertake, touch, embellish, steal, work · **To what, where:** writer, graver

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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 (writer), 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:pg77685:1:12
# text = Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with all the wild extravagances of an oriental imagination; which afterwards stole into the graver works of the monkish historians.
1	Or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	writer	writer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	among	among	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	conquerors	conqueror	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
9	undertook	undertake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	theme	theme	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	embellished	embellish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	23	det:predet	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	extravagances	extravagance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	oriental	oriental	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	imagination	imagination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	afterwards	afterwards	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	graver	graver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
35	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	monkish	monkish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	historians	historian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **undertake** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a writer from the conquerors |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **touch** | to-infinitive | a writer from the conquerors *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon the theme | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **embellish** | past · passive |  | writer |  |  |  | with all wild extravagances of a oriental imagination | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with extravagance=Theme |
| 4 | **steal** | past |  |  |  |  |  | which *nsubj*; afterwards *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **work** | present |  |  |  | the graver |  | of the monkish historians | vn knead-26.5 «NP.material V PP.product»: agent=Material into graver=Product |

<!-- .note -->
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:** «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.

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