---
title: As in the memorable story of the Fall of Troy, we have to make out,… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: As in the memorable story of the Fall of Troy, we have to make out, as well as we can, the veritable details through the mists of poetic fiction; yet poetry has so combined itself with, and lent its magic colouring to, every fact, that to strip it away, would be to reduce the story to a meagre skele
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/) / 7

# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Opening, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As in the memorable story of the Fall of Troy, we have to make out, as well as we can, the veritable details through the mists of poetic fiction; yet poetry has so combined itself with, and lent its magic colouring to, every fact, that to strip it away, would be to reduce the story to a meagre skeleton, and rob it of all its charms.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, fact · **What happens:** have, make out, combine, lend, strip away, be · **To what, where:** poetry, magic colouring, fact, poetic fiction

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (we, fact), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:1:7
# text = As in the memorable story of the Fall of Troy, we have to make out, as well as we can, the veritable details through the mists of poetic fiction; yet poetry has so combined itself with, and lent its magic colouring to, every fact, that to strip it away, would be to reduce the story to a meagre skeleton, and rob it of all its charms.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	memorable	memorable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Fall	fall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Troy	Troy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	22	cc	_	_
19	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	fixed	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	veritable	veritable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	details	detail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
27	through	through	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	mists	mist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	poetic	poetic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	fiction	fiction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	poetry	poetry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	combined	combine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
39	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	38	obj	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	lent	lend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	parataxis	_	_
44	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	colouring	colouring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	50	det	_	_
50	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	54	nsubj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	strip	strip	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	acl	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	away	away	ADV	RB	_	54	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
58	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
59	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	cop	_	_
60	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
61	reduce	reduce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	parataxis	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	_
64	to	to	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
66	meagre	meagre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	compound	_	_
67	skeleton	skeleton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	rob	rob	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
71	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	70	obj	_	_
72	of	of	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
73	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	75	det:predet	_	_
74	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	75	nmod:poss	_	_
75	charms	charm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	70	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | we |  |  |  |  | as the memorable story of the Fall of Troy | tree rules |
| 2 | **make out** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **combine** | present · perfect · passive |  | poetry |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **lend** | past |  | poetry's magic colouring |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent colouring=Theme |
| 5 | **strip away** | to-infinitive | every fact | fact |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | would | every fact |  |  |  |  | to a meagre skeleton; the story *obj*; reduce *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **rob** | infinitive | we *not said here* | fact |  |  |  | of poetry's charms | vn rob-10.6.4 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent it=Theme of charm=Source |
| 8 | **mist** |  |  | poetic fiction |  |  |  |  | nom mist «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/8/)
- ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/1/)