---
title: While they were thus assailing the walls, Count Julian ordered a hea… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were thus assailing the walls, Count Julian ordered a heap of combustibles to be placed against one of the gates, and set on fire. Who acts: efforts, you, Julian. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XII., with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XII., sentence 21

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While they were thus assailing the walls, Count Julian ordered a heap of combustibles to be placed against one of the gates, and set on fire.

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**Who acts:** efforts, you, Julian · **What happens:** assail, count, order, place, set · **To what, where:** walls, heap, fire

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XII.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (efforts, you, Julian), 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:pg77685:33:21
# text = While they were thus assailing the walls, Count Julian ordered a heap of combustibles to be placed against one of the gates, and set on fire.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	assailing	assail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	Count	count	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	Julian	Julian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	combustibles	combustible	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
19	against	against	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	set	set	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assail** | past · progressive | efforts *= effort* | the walls |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Patient |
| 2 | **count** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **order** | past | Julian | a heap of combustibles |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heap=Theme |
| 4 | **place** | to-infinitive · passive | Julian *not said here* |  |  |  |  | against one of the gates | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: against one=Destination |
| 5 | **set** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  | fire |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on fire=Destination |

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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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