---
title: “Surely,” whispered they, one to the other, “this must be either a d… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “Surely,” whispered they, one to the other, “this must be either a devil or a magician, who can thus make himself old and young at pleasure!” Who acts: this, devil. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Muza Besieges the City of Merida., sentence 60

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“Surely,” whispered they, one to the other, “this must be either a devil or a magician, who can thus make himself old and young at pleasure!”

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**Who acts:** this, devil · **What happens:** whisper, be, make · **To what, where:** ambassadors, devil, Muza · **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 (this, devil), 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:pg77685:30:60
# text = “Surely,” whispered they, one to the other, “this must be either a devil or a magician, who can thus make himself old and young at pleasure!”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	nsubj	_	_
15	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
17	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc:preconj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
25	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
28	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	obj	_	_
29	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whisper** *speech: express* | past |  | ambassadors *= ambassador* |  |  |  | one *obj*; surely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | must | this | a devil or a magician |  |  |  | a magician *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **make** *in a quote* | can | a devil or a magician | Muza |  |  |  | old, thus *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Product |

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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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