---
title: The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured hi… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured his downfall. Who acts: power. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government., sentence 2

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The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured his downfall.

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**Who acts:** power · **What happens:** measure, take, perpetuate, ensure · **To what, where:** downfall

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (power), 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:pg77685:3:2
# text = The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured his downfall.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	measures	measure	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Witiza	Witiza	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	perpetuate	perpetuate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ensured	ensure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	downfall	downfall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **measure** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by Witiza | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **perpetuate** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **ensure** | past | Witiza's power | power's downfall |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition downfall=Theme |

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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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