---
title: Taric had little need to exercise his severity; his orders were obey… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Taric had little need to exercise his severity; his orders were obeyed through love, rather than fear, for he was the idol of his soldiery. Who acts: Taric, spoil. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter I., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter I., sentence 12

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Taric had little need to exercise his severity; his orders were obeyed through love, rather than fear, for he was the idol of his soldiery.

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**Who acts:** Taric, spoil · **What happens:** have, need, exercise, obey, be, order · **To what, where:** severity, orders, love

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter I.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Taric, spoil), 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:pg77685:22:12
# text = Taric had little need to exercise his severity; his orders were obeyed through love, rather than fear, for he was the idol of his soldiery.
1	Taric	Taric	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	exercise	exercise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	severity	severity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
14	through	through	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	19	cc	_	_
18	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	fixed	_	_
19	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	idol	idol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	soldiery	soldiery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Taric |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **need** | present | Taric *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **exercise** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Taric *not said here* | spoil's severity |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent severity=Patient |
| 4 | **obey** | past · passive |  | spoil's orders |  | love rather fear |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | spoil |  |  |  |  | for the idol; of spoil's soldiery | tree rules |
| 6 | **order** |  | spoil |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication 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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