---
title: Better is it that we should make a treaty with the enemy, and, by gr… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Better is it that we should make a treaty with the enemy, and, by granting part of his demands, prevent the utter ruin of our country. Who acts: Destruction, we, Heaven. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Skirmishing of the Armies.—pelistes and His Son.—pelistes a
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Skirmishing of the Armies.—pelistes and His Son.—pelistes and the Bishop., sentence 32

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Better is it that we should make a treaty with the enemy, and, by granting part of his demands, prevent the utter ruin of our country.

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**Who acts:** Destruction, we, Heaven · **What happens:** be, make, grant, prevent, demand, ruin · **To what, where:** treaty, part, utter ruin, country

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Skirmishing of the Armies.—pelistes and His Son.—pelistes and the Bishop.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Destruction, we, Heaven), 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:pg77685:16:32
# text = Better is it that we should make a treaty with the enemy, and, by granting part of his demands, prevent the utter ruin of our country.
1	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	treaty	treaty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	granting	grant	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
18	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	demands	demand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
23	prevent	prevent	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	utter	utter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	ruin	ruin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Destruction |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | should | we | a treaty |  |  |  | with the enemy | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent treaty=Product |
| 3 | **grant** | gerund |  | part of Heaven's demands |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent part=Theme |
| 4 | **prevent** | present | Destruction *not said here* | the utter ruin of our country |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer ruin=Theme |
| 5 | **demand** |  | Heaven |  |  |  |  |  | nom demand «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **ruin** |  |  | our country |  |  |  |  | nom ruin «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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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