---
title: Seeing that a place so populous and so strongly fortified would be l… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing that a place so populous and so strongly fortified would be likely to maintain a long and formidable resistance, he sent messengers to Africa to his son Abdalasis, to collect all the forces that could be spared from the garrisons of Mauritania, and to hasten and reinforce him. Who acts: Allah
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., sentence 14

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Seeing that a place so populous and so strongly fortified would be likely to maintain a long and formidable resistance, he sent messengers to Africa to his son Abdalasis, to collect all the forces that could be spared from the garrisons of Mauritania, and to hasten and reinforce him.

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**Who acts:** Allah, populous · **What happens:** see, fortify, be, maintain, send, collect · **To what, where:** long resistance, messengers, son, forces, garrisons, Allah

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza Besieges the City of Merida.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Allah, populous), 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:pg77685:30:14
# text = Seeing that a place so populous and so strongly fortified would be likely to maintain a long and formidable resistance, he sent messengers to Africa to his son Abdalasis, to collect all the forces that could be spared from the garrisons of Mauritania, and to hasten and reinforce him.
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	advcl	_	_
5	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
6	populous	populace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	strongly	strongly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	fortified	fortify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
13	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	maintain	maintain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
17	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	formidable	formidable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	_
20	resistance	resistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Africa	Africa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
30	Abdalasis	Abdalasis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	collect	collect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
34	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	36	det:predet	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	spared	spare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl:relcl	_	_
41	from	from	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	garrisons	garrison	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	Mauritania	Mauritania	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	hasten	hasten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	reinforce	reinforce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	conj	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | Allah *not said here* |  |  |  |  | a place *advcl* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **fortify** | participle | populous *not said here* |  |  |  |  | strongly *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | would | populous |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **maintain** | to-infinitive | populous *not said here* | a long resistance |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent resistance=Theme |
| 5 | **send** | past | Allah | messengers | Allah's son |  |  | to Africa | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme to son=Destination |
| 6 | **collect** | to-infinitive | Allah *not said here* | all forces |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Theme |
| 7 | **spare** | could · passive |  | all forces |  | the garrisons of Mauritania |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: subject=Asset |
| 8 | **hasten** | to-infinitive | Allah *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **reinforce** | infinitive | Allah *not said here* | Allah |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot he=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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