---
title: He chose a dark night to convey his troops across the Straits of Her… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: He chose a dark night to convey his troops across the Straits of Hercules; and, by break of day, they began to disembark at Tarifa, before the country had time to take the alarm. Who acts: fire, troops, country. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Letter of Muza to
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Letter of Muza to the Caliph.—second Expedition of Taric El Tuerto., sentence 20

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He chose a dark night to convey his troops across the Straits of Hercules; and, by break of day, they began to disembark at Tarifa, before the country had time to take the alarm.

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**Who acts:** fire, troops, country · **What happens:** choose, convey, begin, disembark, have, take · **To what, where:** troops, Tarifa, alarm, day

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Letter of Muza to the Caliph.—second Expedition of Taric El Tuerto.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fire, troops, country), 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:pg77685:11:20
# text = He chose a dark night to convey his troops across the Straits of Hercules; and, by break of day, they began to disembark at Tarifa, before the country had time to take the alarm.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	convey	convey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	troops	troops	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	7	obj	_	_
10	across	across	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Straits	Strait	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Hercules	Hercules	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	break	break	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	disembark	disembark	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Tarifa	Tarifa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
34	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past | fire |  |  |  | night | break of day *parataxis* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **convey** | to-infinitive | fire *not said here* | fire's troops |  |  |  | the Straits of Hercules *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **begin** | past | troops |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **disembark** | to-infinitive | troops *not said here* |  |  | Tarifa |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past | the country |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **take** | to-infinitive | the country *not said here* | the alarm |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent alarm=Theme |
| 7 | **break** |  |  | day |  |  |  |  | nom break «event transitive»: of=patient |

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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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