---
title: The faint clatter of distant hoofs, as if in rapid flight, reached t… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The faint clatter of distant hoofs, as if in rapid flight, reached the monarch’s ear, but the horsemen were not to be descried. Who acts: faint clatter, distant hoofs. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Last Day of the Battle., with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Last Day of the Battle., sentence 6

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The faint clatter of distant hoofs, as if in rapid flight, reached the monarch’s ear, but the horsemen were not to be descried.

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**Who acts:** faint clatter, distant hoofs · **What happens:** reach, not descry, clatter · **To what, where:** ear, horsemen

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Last Day of the Battle.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (faint clatter, distant hoofs), 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:pg77685:18:6
# text = The faint clatter of distant hoofs, as if in rapid flight, reached the monarch’s ear, but the horsemen were not to be descried.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	clatter	clatter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	hoofs	hoof	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	rapid	rapid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
14	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	monarch	monarch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	horsemen	horseman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	descried	descry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | the faint clatter of distant hoofs and rapid flight | the monarch's ear |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **descry** | past · passive | the faint clatter of distant hoofs and rapid flight *not said here* | the horsemen |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **clatter** |  | distant hoofs |  |  |  |  |  | nom clatter «event intransitive»: of=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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