---
title: “The walls are high, and of wondrous strength,” replied the shepherd… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “The walls are high, and of wondrous strength,” replied the shepherd; “and soldiers hold watch at the gates by day and night. Who acts: walls, shepherd, soldiers. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patriot Pelis
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patriot Pelistes., sentence 20

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“The walls are high, and of wondrous strength,” replied the shepherd; “and soldiers hold watch at the gates by day and night.

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**Who acts:** walls, shepherd, soldiers · **What happens:** be, reply, hold · **To what, where:** watch, gates · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patriot Pelistes.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (walls, shepherd, soldiers), 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:pg77685:24:20
# text = “The walls are high, and of wondrous strength,” replied the shepherd; “and soldiers hold watch at the gates by day and night.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	wondrous	wondrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
13	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
20	hold	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
21	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the walls |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the shepherd |  |  |  |  | of wondrous strength | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **hold** *in a quote* | present | soldiers | watch |  | the gates | day |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent watch=Theme at gate=Location |

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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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