---
title: “What a devil of a man is this,” murmured the ambassadors one to ano… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “What a devil of a man is this,” murmured the ambassadors one to another, “to undertake such a siege when on the verge of the grave! Who acts: devil, this. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/30/49/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Muza Besieges the City of Merida.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/30/) / 49

# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“What a devil of a man is this,” murmured the ambassadors one to another, “to undertake such a siege when on the verge of the grave!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** devil, this · **What happens:** be, murmur, undertake · **To what, where:** this, ambassadors, siege · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (devil, this), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:30:49
# text = “What a devil of a man is this,” murmured the ambassadors one to another, “to undertake such a siege when on the verge of the grave!
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	4	det	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
12	murmured	murmur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	ambassadors	ambassador	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	flat	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	undertake	undertake	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
22	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	24	det:predet	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	conj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	verge	verge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | what devil of a man | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **murmur** *speech: other* | past | this | the ambassadors |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **undertake** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | such siege |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent siege=Eventuality |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/30/48/)
- next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/30/50/)
- ↑ back to [Muza Besieges the City of Merida.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/30/)