---
title: The sacristan was a voluble and communicative man, and one not likel… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The sacristan was a voluble and communicative man, and one not likely to be niggard of his tongue about any thing he knew, or slow to boast of any marvel pertaining to his church; but he professed utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal. Who acts: sacristan, nobleman, marvel, such portal
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, The Cave of Hercules., sentence 50

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The sacristan was a voluble and communicative man, and one not likely to be niggard of his tongue about any thing he knew, or slow to boast of any marvel pertaining to his church; but he professed utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal.

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**Who acts:** sacristan, nobleman, marvel, such portal · **What happens:** be, know, boast, pertain, profess, ignore · **To what, where:** voluble man, niggard, thing, utter ignorance, existence

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, The Cave of Hercules.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sacristan, nobleman, marvel, such portal), 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:pg77685:21:50
# text = The sacristan was a voluble and communicative man, and one not likely to be niggard of his tongue about any thing he knew, or slow to boast of any marvel pertaining to his church; but he professed utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sacristan	sacristan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	voluble	voluble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	communicative	communicative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nsubj	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	niggard	niggard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	xcomp	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	about	about	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	boast	boast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	marvel	marvel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	pertaining	pertain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	acl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
38	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	professed	profess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
41	utter	utter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	ignorance	ignorance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	49	det	_	_
48	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	portal	portal	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 | **is a** | past | the sacristan | a voluble man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive | the sacristan *not said here* | niggard |  |  |  | of man's tongue about any thing | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | past | nobleman | any thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **boast** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the sacristan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of any marvel | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **pertain** | gerund | any marvel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to nobleman's church | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to church=Co-Theme |
| 6 | **profess** | past | nobleman | utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent ignorance=Theme |
| 7 | **ignore** |  |  | the existence of any such portal |  |  |  |  | nom ignorance «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **exist** |  | any such portal |  |  |  |  |  | nom existence «state 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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