---
title: Upon this the cavaliers checked their steeds, and requested that the… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Upon this the cavaliers checked their steeds, and requested that the foot soldiery might advance and disperse this losel crew, holding it beneath their dignity to contend with pedestrian foes. Who acts: cavaliers, foot soldiery. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Battle of Calpe.—fate of Ataulpho., sentence 17

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Upon this the cavaliers checked their steeds, and requested that the foot soldiery might advance and disperse this losel crew, holding it beneath their dignity to contend with pedestrian foes.

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**Who acts:** cavaliers, foot soldiery · **What happens:** check, request, advance, disperse, hold, contend · **To what, where:** steeds, losel crew, crew, dignity

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Battle of Calpe.—fate of Ataulpho.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cavaliers, foot soldiery), 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:pg77685:13:17
# text = Upon this the cavaliers checked their steeds, and requested that the foot soldiery might advance and disperse this losel crew, holding it beneath their dignity to contend with pedestrian foes.
1	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cavaliers	cavalier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	checked	check	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	steeds	steed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	requested	request	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	soldiery	soldiery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	advance	advance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	disperse	disperse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
20	losel	losel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	crew	crew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	dignity	dignity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	contend	contend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	pedestrian	pedestrian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	foes	foe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **check** | past | the cavaliers upon this | cavaliers's steeds |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent steed=Theme |
| 2 | **request** | past | the cavaliers upon this *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **advance** | might | the foot soldiery |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **disperse** | infinitive | the foot soldiery *not said here* | this losel crew |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent crew=Patient |
| 5 | **hold** | gerund | the cavaliers upon this *not said here* | crew |  | cavaliers's dignity |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme beneath dignity=Location |
| 6 | **contend** | to-infinitive | the cavaliers upon this *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with pedestrian foes | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with foe=Co-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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