---
title: He was about forty years of age; hardy, prompt, and sagacious; and h… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: He was about forty years of age; hardy, prompt, and sagacious; and had all the Gothic nobles been equally vigilant and shrewd in their defence, the banner of Islam would never have triumphed over the land. Who acts: Theodomir, Gothic nobles, defence, historians. A sentence of «Legends of the conques
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Letter of Muza to the Caliph.—second Expedition of Taric El Tuerto., sentence 43

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He was about forty years of age; hardy, prompt, and sagacious; and had all the Gothic nobles been equally vigilant and shrewd in their defence, the banner of Islam would never have triumphed over the land.

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**Who acts:** Theodomir, Gothic nobles, defence, historians · **What happens:** be, have, not triumph, defend · **To what, where:** forty years, defence, banner, land

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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 (Theodomir, Gothic nobles, defence, historians), 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:pg77685:11:43
# text = He was about forty years of age; hardy, prompt, and sagacious; and had all the Gothic nobles been equally vigilant and shrewd in their defence, the banner of Islam would never have triumphed over the land.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	hardy	hardy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	prompt	prompt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	sagacious	sagacious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	Gothic	gothic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	nobles	noble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	cop	_	_
23	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	vigilant	vigilant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	ccomp	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	shrewd	shrewd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	banner	banner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Islam	Islam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
36	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
37	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	aux	_	_
38	triumphed	triumph	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl:relcl	_	_
39	over	over	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Theodomir | forty years |  |  | of age |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | participle | all Gothic nobles |  |  | historians's defence |  | equally, vigilant *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | all Gothic nobles *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **triumph** | would · perfect · passive | historians's defence *not said here* | the banner of Islam |  | the land |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **defend** |  | historians *= historian* |  |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: poss=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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