---
title: When admitted to the presence of Muza, the ambassadors could scarcel… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: When admitted to the presence of Muza, the ambassadors could scarcely believe their eyes; or that this was the same withered, white-headed old man, of whom they had lately spoken with scoffing. Who acts: ambassadors, this. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza B
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., sentence 57

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When admitted to the presence of Muza, the ambassadors could scarcely believe their eyes; or that this was the same withered, white-headed old man, of whom they had lately spoken with scoffing.

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**Who acts:** ambassadors, this · **What happens:** admit, believe, be, speak · **To what, where:** presence, eyes, same withered headed old man, ambassadors · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (ambassadors, this), 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:pg77685:30:57
# text = When admitted to the presence of Muza, the ambassadors could scarcely believe their eyes; or that this was the same withered, white-headed old man, of whom they had lately spoken with scoffing.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	admitted	admit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Muza	Muza	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ambassadors	ambassador	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
19	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
22	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
23	withered	withered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	headed	headed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	36	obl	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	lately	lately	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	scoffing	scoffing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **admit** *speech: other* | participle | the ambassadors *not said here* |  | the presence of Muza |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to presence=Recipient |
| 2 | **believe** | could | the ambassadors | ambassadors's eyes |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer eye=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | past | this | the same withered headed old man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | ambassadors *= ambassador* |  |  |  | of the same withered headed old man; with scoffing; lately *property* | tree rules |

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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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