---
title: At hearing these words, Roderick covered his face with his hands, an… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: At hearing these words, Roderick covered his face with his hands, and for some time sat in silence; and all his courtiers stood mute and aghast, and no one dared to speak a word. Who acts: Roderick, courtiers, one. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Terror of the 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Terror of the Country.—roderick Rouses Himself to Arms., sentence 10

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At hearing these words, Roderick covered his face with his hands, and for some time sat in silence; and all his courtiers stood mute and aghast, and no one dared to speak a word.

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**Who acts:** Roderick, courtiers, one · **What happens:** hear, cover, sit, stand, dare, speak · **To what, where:** words, face, silence, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Terror of the Country.—roderick Rouses Himself to Arms.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Roderick, courtiers, one), 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:pg77685:14:10
# text = At hearing these words, Roderick covered his face with his hands, and for some time sat in silence; and all his courtiers stood mute and aghast, and no one dared to speak a word.
1	At	at	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
3	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	Roderick	Roderick	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
18	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	courtiers	courtier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
27	mute	mute	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	aghast	aghast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	33	det	_	_
33	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | gerund | Roderick *not said here* | this words |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 2 | **cover** | past | Roderick | Roderick's face |  |  |  | with Roderick's hands | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent face=Destination with hand=Theme |
| 3 | **sit** | past | Roderick *not said here* |  |  | silence | time |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in silence=Location |
| 4 | **stand** | past | Roderick's courtiers |  |  |  |  | mute *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **dare** | past | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* | a word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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