--- title: At length, breaking silence, in a low and faltering voice, “Doubtles… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics description: At length, breaking silence, in a low and faltering voice, “Doubtless,” said he, “this message is from God; and since he has taken compassion upon us, and given us notice of his impending judgment, it behoves us to hold grave council, and determine how best we may accomplish his will and avert his d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/15/27/) [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/) / [Chapter XIV.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/15/) / 27 # Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XIV., sentence 27 At length, breaking silence, in a low and faltering voice, “Doubtless,” said he, “this message is from God; and since he has taken compassion upon us, and given us notice of his impending judgment, it behoves us to hold grave council, and determine how best we may accomplish his will and avert his displeasure.” **Who acts:** Doubtless, message, we · **What happens:** break, falter, say, be, take, give · **To what, where:** length, compassion, notice, us, grave council, best · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XIV.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Doubtless, message, we), 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:pg77685:15:27 # text = At length, breaking silence, in a low and faltering voice, “Doubtless,” said he, “this message is from God; and since he has taken compassion upon us, and given us notice of his impending judgment, it behoves us to hold grave council, and determine how best we may accomplish his will and avert his displeasure.” 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 4 breaking break VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 amod _ _ 5 silence silence NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 9 low low ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 faltering falter VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 conj _ _ 12 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 Doubtless Doubtless PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ” " PUNCT '' _ 15 punct _ _ 18 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 21 “ " PUNCT `` _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 23 det _ _ 23 message message NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 24 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 from from ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 29 since since SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 18 conj _ _ 33 compassion compassion NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 34 upon upon ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 given give VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 conj _ _ 39 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 iobj _ _ 40 notice notice NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 43 impending impend VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 44 amod _ _ 44 judgment judgment NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 46 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 behoves behove VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 parataxis _ _ 48 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 47 obj _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 hold hold VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 advcl _ _ 51 grave grave ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 council council NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 54 and and CCONJ CC _ 55 cc _ _ 55 determine determine VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 conj _ _ 56 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 57 advmod _ _ 57 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 55 obj _ _ 58 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 60 nsubj _ _ 59 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 60 aux _ _ 60 accomplish accomplish VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 55 parataxis _ _ 61 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 62 nmod:poss _ _ 62 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 60 advcl _ _ 63 and and CCONJ CC _ 64 cc _ _ 64 avert avert VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 60 conj _ _ 65 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 66 nmod:poss _ _ 66 displeasure displeasure NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 68 ” " PUNCT '' _ 47 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **break** | gerund | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 2 | **falter** | gerund | Doubtless *not said here* | | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Doubtless | | | length in a low voice and breaking silence | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Doubtless | | | | | from God; this message *nsubj* | tree rules | | 5 | **take** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Doubtless | compassion | | | | upon us | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent compassion=Theme | | 6 | **give** *in a quote* | participle | Doubtless *not said here* | notice of Doubtless's impending judgment | us | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient notice=Theme | | 7 | **impend** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **behove** *in a quote* | present | message | us | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **hold** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | message *not said here* | grave council | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent council=Theme | | 10 | **determine** *in a quote* | infinitive | message *not said here* | best | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Topic | | 11 | **accomplish** *in a quote* | may | we | | | | | | vn complete-55.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent | | 12 | **avert** *in a quote* | infinitive | we *not said here* | Doubtless's displeasure | | | | | tree rules | | 13 | **notice** *in a quote* | | | Doubtless's impending judgment | | | | | nom notice «communication transitive»: of=patient | | 14 | **judge** *in a quote* | | Doubtless | | | | | | nom judgment «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | | 15 | **displease** *in a quote* | | Doubtless | | | | | | nom displeasure «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/15/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/15/28/) - ↑ back to [Chapter XIV.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/15/)