---
title: “Doubtless,” says he, “there was a collusion between this ancient sy… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “Doubtless,” says he, “there was a collusion between this ancient sybil and the crafty son of Ishmael; for these infidel leaders were full of damnable inventions, to work upon the superstitious fancies of their followers, and to inspire them with a blind confidence in the success of their arms.” Who
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Letter of Muza to the Caliph.—second Expedition of Taric El Tuerto., sentence 36

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“Doubtless,” says he, “there was a collusion between this ancient sybil and the crafty son of Ishmael; for these infidel leaders were full of damnable inventions, to work upon the superstitious fancies of their followers, and to inspire them with a blind confidence in the success of their arms.”

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**Who acts:** Doubtless, collusion · **What happens:** say, be, work, inspire, fancy · **To what, where:** Antonio, followers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Doubtless, collusion), 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:pg77685:11:36
# text = “Doubtless,” says he, “there was a collusion between this ancient sybil and the crafty son of Ishmael; for these infidel leaders were full of damnable inventions, to work upon the superstitious fancies of their followers, and to inspire them with a blind confidence in the success of their arms.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Doubtless	Doubtless	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	collusion	collusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	between	between	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
15	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	sybil	sybil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	crafty	crafty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Ishmael	Ishmael	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
26	infidel	infidel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	leaders	leader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	damnable	damnable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	inventions	invention	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	work	work	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	_
36	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	superstitious	superstitious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	fancies	fancy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	followers	follower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	inspire	inspire	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
47	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	with	with	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	confidence	confidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	success	success	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Doubtless | Antonio |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | past | a collusion between this ancient sybil and the crafty son of Ishmael |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  | for this infidel leaders; of damnable inventions; full *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **work** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | upon the superstitious fancies of fancies's followers | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **inspire** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | followers *= follower* |  |  |  | with a blind confidence in the success of followers's arms | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 6 | **fancy** *in a quote* |  |  | fancies's followers |  |  |  |  | nom fancy «cognition 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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