---
title: The sovereign pontiff Constantine threatened to depose and excommuni… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The sovereign pontiff Constantine threatened to depose and excommunicate him, unless he abrogated this licentious law; but Witiza set him at defiance, threatening, like his Gothic predecessor Alaric, to assail the eternal city with his troops, and make spoil of her accumulated treasures. Who acts: s
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain.—of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked., sentence 33

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The sovereign pontiff Constantine threatened to depose and excommunicate him, unless he abrogated this licentious law; but Witiza set him at defiance, threatening, like his Gothic predecessor Alaric, to assail the eternal city with his troops, and make spoil of her accumulated treasures.

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**Who acts:** sovereign pontiff, pontiff, Witiza, Alaric · **What happens:** threaten, depose, excommunicate, abrogate, set, assail · **To what, where:** Constantine, licentious law, defiance, Gothic predecessor, eternal city, spoil

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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 (sovereign pontiff, pontiff, Witiza, Alaric), 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:pg77685:2:33
# text = The sovereign pontiff Constantine threatened to depose and excommunicate him, unless he abrogated this licentious law; but Witiza set him at defiance, threatening, like his Gothic predecessor Alaric, to assail the eternal city with his troops, and make spoil of her accumulated treasures.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sovereign	sovereign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	pontiff	pontiff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	Constantine	Constantine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	threatened	threaten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	depose	depose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	excommunicate	excommunicate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	abrogated	abrogate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
16	licentious	licentious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	Witiza	Witiza	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	defiance	defiance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	threatening	threaten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	Gothic	gothic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	predecessor	predecessor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
32	Alaric	Alaric	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	assail	assail	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	eternal	eternal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	troops	troops	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
45	spoil	spoil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	accumulated	accumulate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	amod	_	_
49	treasures	treasure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **threaten** | past | the sovereign pontiff |  |  |  |  | Constantine *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **depose** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the sovereign pontiff *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **excommunicate** | infinitive | the sovereign pontiff *not said here* | Constantine |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **abrogate** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | pontiff | this licentious law |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **set** | past | Witiza | Constantine |  | defiance |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme at defiance=Destination |
| 6 | **threaten** | gerund | Witiza *not said here* | Witiza's Gothic predecessor |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus predecessor=Experiencer |
| 7 | **assail** | to-infinitive |  | the eternal city |  |  |  | with Witiza's troops | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Patient |
| 8 | **make** | infinitive |  | spoil of Alaric's accumulated treasures |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset spoil=Product |
| 9 | **accumulate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **spoil** |  |  | Alaric's accumulated treasures |  |  |  |  | nom spoil «possession transitive»: of=patient |
| 11 | **treasure** |  | Alaric |  |  |  |  |  | nom treasure «possession transitive»: 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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