---
title: The Moors attempted to force the gates, but were assailed with such… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The Moors attempted to force the gates, but were assailed with such showers of missiles from the windows and battlements that they were obliged to retire. Who acts: Moors. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/24/33/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/24/) / 33

# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patriot Pelistes., sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Moors attempted to force the gates, but were assailed with such showers of missiles from the windows and battlements that they were obliged to retire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Moors · **What happens:** attempt, force, assail, oblige, retire · **To what, where:** gates, Moors

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Moors), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:24:33
# text = The Moors attempted to force the gates, but were assailed with such showers of missiles from the windows and battlements that they were obliged to retire.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Moors	moor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	attempted	attempt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	force	force	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	assailed	assail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	showers	shower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	missiles	missile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	battlements	battlement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	retire	retire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attempt** | past | the Moors |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **force** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Moors *not said here* | the gates |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gate=Recipient |
| 3 | **assail** | past · passive | the Moors *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with such showers of missiles from the windows and battlements | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP» |
| 4 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | Moors *= moor* |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 5 | **retire** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/24/32/)
- next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/24/34/)
- ↑ back to [Expedition of Magued Against Cordova.—defence of the Patriot Pelistes.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/24/)