---
title: It was a grievous blow to a man of his pride and ambition; but he pr… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a grievous blow to a man of his pride and ambition; but he prepared instantly to obey. Who acts: sovereign, man. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XIII., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XIII., sentence 14

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It was a grievous blow to a man of his pride and ambition; but he prepared instantly to obey.

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**Who acts:** sovereign, man · **What happens:** be, prepare, obey, pride · **To what, where:** grievous blow

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XIII.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sovereign, man), 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:pg77685:34:14
# text = It was a grievous blow to a man of his pride and ambition; but he prepared instantly to obey.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	grievous	grievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	ambition	ambition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | sovereign | a grievous blow |  |  |  | to a man of man's pride and ambition | tree rules |
| 2 | **prepare** | past | man |  |  |  |  | instantly *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **obey** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pride** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom pride «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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