---
title: Theodomir was in a fair way to baffle his foes and oblige them to wi… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Theodomir was in a fair way to baffle his foes and oblige them to withdraw from his territories; unfortunately, however, the wary veteran had two sons with him, young men of hot and heady valour, who considered all this prudence of their father as savouring of cowardice, and who were anxious to try 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”, sentence 41

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Theodomir was in a fair way to baffle his foes and oblige them to withdraw from his territories; unfortunately, however, the wary veteran had two sons with him, young men of hot and heady valour, who considered all this prudence of their father as savouring of cowardice, and who were anxious to try their prowess in the open field.

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**Who acts:** Theodomir, wary veteran, hot valour · **What happens:** be, baffle, oblige, withdraw, have, consider · **To what, where:** fair way, foes, territories, two sons, prudence, prowess

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Theodomir, wary veteran, hot valour), 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:pg77685:31:41
# text = Theodomir was in a fair way to baffle his foes and oblige them to withdraw from his territories; unfortunately, however, the wary veteran had two sons with him, young men of hot and heady valour, who considered all this prudence of their father as savouring of cowardice, and who were anxious to try their prowess in the open field.
1	Theodomir	Theodomir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	baffle	baffle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	foes	foe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	oblige	oblige	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	withdraw	withdraw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	territories	territory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	unfortunately	unfortunately	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	however	however	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	wary	wary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	veteran	veteran	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
28	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
36	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	heady	heady	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	conj	_	_
39	valour	valour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
42	considered	consider	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	45	det:predet	_	_
44	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	45	det	_	_
45	prudence	prudence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
50	savouring	savour	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	cowardice	cowardice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
55	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
56	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
57	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	parataxis	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	csubj	_	_
60	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	61	nmod:poss	_	_
61	prowess	prowess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
64	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Theodomir |  |  | a fair way |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **baffle** | to-infinitive |  | Theodomir's foes |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus foe=Experiencer |
| 3 | **oblige** | present |  | foes *= foe* |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Patient clause=Result |
| 4 | **withdraw** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | Theodomir's territories |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from territory=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **have** | past | the wary veteran | two sons and young men of hot valour |  |  |  | with Theodomir; however, unfortunately *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 6 | **consider** | past | hot valour | all prudence of men's father |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent prudence=Attribute |
| 7 | **savour** | gerund | hot valour *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of cowardice | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; anxious *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **try** | to-infinitive |  | men's prowess |  | the open field |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prowess=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.

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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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