---
title: Still he possessed the caution of a veteran, and feared to engage in… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Still he possessed the caution of a veteran, and feared to engage in an enterprise of such moment, and to carry his arms into another division of the globe, without the approbation of his sovereign. Who acts: land. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter IX., w
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter IX., sentence 18

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Still he possessed the caution of a veteran, and feared to engage in an enterprise of such moment, and to carry his arms into another division of the globe, without the approbation of his sovereign.

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**Who acts:** land · **What happens:** possess, fear, engage, carry, approbate · **To what, where:** caution, enterprise, arms, division, sovereign

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter IX.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (land), 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:pg77685:10:18
# text = Still he possessed the caution of a veteran, and feared to engage in an enterprise of such moment, and to carry his arms into another division of the globe, without the approbation of his sovereign.
1	Still	still	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	caution	caution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	veteran	veteran	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	engage	engage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	enterprise	enterprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
28	division	division	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	globe	globe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	without	without	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	approbation	approbation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | past | land | the caution of a veteran |  |  | still |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot caution=Theme |
| 2 | **fear** | past | land *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **engage** | to-infinitive | land *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in a enterprise of such moment *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in enterprise=Goal |
| 4 | **carry** | to-infinitive | land *not said here* | land's arms |  | another division of the globe |  | without the approbation of land's sovereign | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Theme |
| 5 | **approbate** |  |  | land's sovereign |  |  |  |  | nom approbation «feeling 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.

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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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