---
title: Few events in history have been so signal and striking in their main… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: 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 a
---

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

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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.

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

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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 (Few events, few motives, agents), 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:pg77685:1:6
# text = 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.
1	Few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	signal	signal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	main	main	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	overwhelming	overwhelming	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	enduring	endure	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	consequences	consequence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	conquest	conquest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	Spain	Spain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Saracens	saracen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	38	expl	_	_
38	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
39	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
40	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	42	advmod	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	motives	motive	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
47	actions	action	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	agents	agent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
51	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	enveloped	envelop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	56	amod	_	_
56	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	contradiction	contradiction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | 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 |

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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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