--- title: They were a prodigious host, and appeared, say the Arabian chronicle… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics description: They were a prodigious host, and appeared, say the Arabian chroniclers, like an agitated sea; but, though brave in spirit, they possessed no knowledge of warlike art, and were ineffectual through lack of arms and discipline. Who acts: shields, prodigious host. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/14/30/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Terror of the Country.—roderick Rouses…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/14/) / 30 # Legends of the conquest of Spain, Terror of the Country.—roderick Rouses Himself to Arms., sentence 30 They were a prodigious host, and appeared, say the Arabian chroniclers, like an agitated sea; but, though brave in spirit, they possessed no knowledge of warlike art, and were ineffectual through lack of arms and discipline. **Who acts:** shields, prodigious host · **What happens:** be, appear, say, agitate, possess, lack · **To what, where:** prodigious host, Arabian chroniclers, knowledge, lack, arms · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (shields, prodigious host), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg77685:14:30 # text = They were a prodigious host, and appeared, say the Arabian chroniclers, like an agitated sea; but, though brave in spirit, they possessed no knowledge of warlike art, and were ineffectual through lack of arms and discipline. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 prodigious prodigious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 host host NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 appeared appear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 10 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 Arabian Arabian ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 chroniclers chronicler NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 like like ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 16 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 17 agitated agitate VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 amod _ _ 18 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 20 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 22 though though SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 23 brave brave ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 advcl _ _ 24 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 spirit spirit NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 possessed possess VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 29 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 30 det _ _ 30 knowledge knowledge NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 warlike warlike ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 art art NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 37 ineffectual ineffectual ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ _ 38 through through ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 lack lack NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 arms arm NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nmod _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 discipline discipline NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | shields *= shield* | a prodigious host | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **appear** | past | a prodigious host *not said here* | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | a prodigious host *not said here* | the Arabian chroniclers | | | | like a agitated sea | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent chronicler=Topic | | 4 | **agitate** | participle | | | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **possess** | past | shields *= shield* | no knowledge of warlike art | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot knowledge=Theme | | 6 | **is** | past | shields *= shield* *not said here* | | | lack of arms and discipline | | ineffectual *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **lack** | | | arms and discipline | | | | | nom lack «state transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/14/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/14/31/) - ↑ back to [Terror of the Country.—roderick Rouses Himself to Arms.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/14/)