---
title: Nothing could surpass the splendour of their arms, which were emboss… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Nothing could surpass the splendour of their arms, which were embossed and enamelled, and enriched with gold and jewels and curious devices; nothing could be more gallant and glorious than their array—it was all plume and banner and silken pageantry, the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and c
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, The Rise of Don Roderick.—his Government., sentence 37

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Nothing could surpass the splendour of their arms, which were embossed and enamelled, and enriched with gold and jewels and curious devices; nothing could be more gallant and glorious than their array—it was all plume and banner and silken pageantry, the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel; but the iron soul of war was wanting.

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**Who acts:** Nothing, array, iron soul · **What happens:** surpass, emboss, enamell, enrich, be, want · **To what, where:** splendour, arms, plume

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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 (Nothing, array, iron soul), 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:pg77685:3:37
# text = Nothing could surpass the splendour of their arms, which were embossed and enamelled, and enriched with gold and jewels and curious devices; nothing could be more gallant and glorious than their array—it was all plume and banner and silken pageantry, the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel; but the iron soul of war was wanting.
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	surpass	surpass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	splendour	splendour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	embossed	emboss	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	enamelled	enamell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	enriched	enrich	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	jewels	jewel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	devices	device	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	30	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	amod	_	_
30	gallant	gallant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	glorious	glorious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
33	than	than	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	array	array	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
39	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	40	det	_	_
40	plume	plume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	banner	banner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	silken	silken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	pageantry	pageantry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	gorgeous	gorgeous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	trappings	trapping	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	conj	_	_
50	for	for	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	tilt	tilt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	tourney	tourney	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	conj	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	courtly	courtly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	revel	revel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	65	punct	_	_
58	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	compound	_	_
61	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	nsubj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	_
64	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	aux	_	_
65	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **surpass** | could | Nothing | the splendour of flood's arms |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot splendour=Theme |
| 2 | **emboss** | past · passive |  | flood's arms |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination»: subject=Destination |
| 3 | **enamell** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **enrich** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with gold and jewels and curious devices | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with gold=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | could | nothing |  |  |  |  | than flood's array; gallant *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | past | array | all plume and banner and silken pageantry and the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel |  |  |  | banner *conj*; silken pageantry *conj*; the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel *conj* | tree rules |
| 8 | **want** | past · progressive | the iron soul of war |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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