---
title: “We cannot save the city,” said they, “but at least we may save ours… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “We cannot save the city,” said they, “but at least we may save ourselves, and preserve so many strong arms for the service of our country. Who acts: We, cavaliers. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza Marches Against the City of Seville., with its dependency t
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Marches Against the City of Seville., sentence 9

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“We cannot save the city,” said they, “but at least we may save ourselves, and preserve so many strong arms for the service of our country.

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**Who acts:** We, cavaliers · **What happens:** not save, say, save, preserve, service · **To what, where:** city, ourselves, least, many strong arms, country · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza Marches Against the City of Seville.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, cavaliers), 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:pg77685:29:9
# text = “We cannot save the city,” said they, “but at least we may save ourselves, and preserve so many strong arms for the service of our country.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	obl	_	_
17	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
20	ourselves	ourselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	preserve	preserve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **save** *in a quote* | can | We | the city |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | cavaliers *= cavalier* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **save** *in a quote* | may | we | ourselves |  | least |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent ourselves=Theme at least=Asset |
| 4 | **preserve** *in a quote* | infinitive | we *not said here* | many strong arms |  |  |  | for the service of our country | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **service** *in a quote* |  |  | our country |  |  |  |  | nom service «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

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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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