---
title: But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became hereditary from usage, and the power of the sovereign grew to be almost absolute. Who acts: crown, power. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked., sentence 15

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But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became hereditary from usage, and the power of the sovereign grew to be almost absolute.

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**Who acts:** crown, power · **What happens:** be, become, grow · **To what, where:** principle

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crown, power), 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:pg77685:2:15
# text = But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became hereditary from usage, and the power of the sovereign grew to be almost absolute.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	crown	crown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	elective	elective	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	principle	principle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	gradually	gradually	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	hereditary	hereditary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	usage	usage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
26	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	absolute	absolute	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the crown |  |  | principle |  | elective *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **become** | past | crown |  |  |  |  | gradually, hereditary *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **grow** | past | the power of the sovereign |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | the power of the sovereign *not said here* |  |  |  |  | absolute, almost *property* | tree rules |

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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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