---
title: In the mean time, bodies of troops had been secretly and silently ma… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: In the mean time, bodies of troops had been secretly and silently marched to reinforce the outposts; and the renegado Magued, with a numerous force, had formed an ambuscade in a deep stone quarry by which the Christians would have to pass. Who acts: Christians. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., sentence 20

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In the mean time, bodies of troops had been secretly and silently marched to reinforce the outposts; and the renegado Magued, with a numerous force, had formed an ambuscade in a deep stone quarry by which the Christians would have to pass.

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**Who acts:** Christians · **What happens:** be, march, reinforce, form, have, pass · **To what, where:** bodies, outposts, Magued, deep stone quarry

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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 (Christians), 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:pg77685:30:20
# text = In the mean time, bodies of troops had been secretly and silently marched to reinforce the outposts; and the renegado Magued, with a numerous force, had formed an ambuscade in a deep stone quarry by which the Christians would have to pass.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	mean	mean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	troops	troops	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	6	nmod	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	cop	_	_
11	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	silently	silently	ADV	RB	_	11	conj	_	_
14	marched	march	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	reinforce	reinforce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	outposts	outpost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	renegado	renegado	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod:desc	_	_
23	Magued	Magued	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
32	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	ambuscade	ambuscade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	quarry	quarry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
39	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	obl	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	Christians	Christian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	conj	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | secretly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **march** | past · perfect · passive |  | bodies of troops |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **reinforce** | to-infinitive |  | the outposts |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot outpost=Theme |
| 4 | **form** | past · perfect · passive |  | the Magued  renegado |  | a deep stone quarry |  | a ambuscade *obj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | would | the Christians |  |  |  |  | by a deep stone quarry | tree rules |
| 6 | **pass** | to-infinitive | the Christians *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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