---
title: “Father,” said the eldest son, “it is too late to retreat; remain he… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “Father,” said the eldest son, “it is too late to retreat; remain here with the reserve, while my brother and I advance. Who acts: Father, retreat, brother. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”, with 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Expedition of Abdalasis Against Seville and the “land of Tadmir.”, sentence 50

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“Father,” said the eldest son, “it is too late to retreat; remain here with the reserve, while my brother and I advance.

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**Who acts:** Father, retreat, brother · **What happens:** say, be, retreat, remain, advance · **To what, where:** eldest son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Father, retreat, brother), 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:pg77685:31:50
# text = “Father,” said the eldest son, “it is too late to retreat; remain here with the reserve, while my brother and I advance.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	too	too	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	retreat	retreat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	remain	remain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
19	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	reserve	reserve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	conj	_	_
29	advance	advance	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Father | the eldest son |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | retreat | the eldest son *not said here* |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **retreat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | retreat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **remain** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  | here |  | with the reserve | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **advance** *in a quote* | present | my brother  I |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |

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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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