---
title: In this day’s action the Christians suffered greatly in the loss of… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: In this day’s action the Christians suffered greatly in the loss of their distinguished cavaliers; for it is the noblest spirits who venture most, and lay themselves open to danger; and the Moslem soldiers had instructions to single out the leaders of the adverse host. Who acts: Christians, loss, no
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Skirmishing of the Armies.—pelistes and His Son.—pelistes and the Bishop., sentence 9

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In this day’s action the Christians suffered greatly in the loss of their distinguished cavaliers; for it is the noblest spirits who venture most, and lay themselves open to danger; and the Moslem soldiers had instructions to single out the leaders of the adverse host.

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**Who acts:** Christians, loss, noblest spirits, Moslem soldiers, day · **What happens:** suffer, be, venture, lay, open, have · **To what, where:** action, Christians, danger, instructions

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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 (Christians, loss, noblest spirits, Moslem soldiers), 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:pg77685:16:9
# text = In this day’s action the Christians suffered greatly in the loss of their distinguished cavaliers; for it is the noblest spirits who venture most, and lay themselves open to danger; and the Moslem soldiers had instructions to single out the leaders of the adverse host.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Christians	Christian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	suffered	suffer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	distinguished	distinguished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	cavaliers	cavalier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	noblest	noble	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	amod	_	_
23	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	venture	venture	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	_
31	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	Moslem	Moslem	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
40	instructions	instruction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	xcomp	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	leaders	leader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	adverse	adverse	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suffer** | past | the Christians |  |  | this day's action |  | in the loss of Christians's distinguished cavaliers; greatly *property* | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present | loss |  |  |  |  | for the noblest spirits | tree rules |
| 3 | **venture** | present | the noblest spirits |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **lay** | infinitive | the noblest spirits *not said here* | Christians *= christian* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **open** | infinitive | the noblest spirits *not said here* |  | danger |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to danger=Recipient |
| 6 | **have** | past | the Moslem soldiers | instructions |  |  |  | single *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent instruction=Patient |
| 7 | **act** |  | this day |  |  |  |  |  | nom action «act intransitive»: poss=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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