---
title: As he traversed the valley of the Guadalquivir, he often turned and… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: As he traversed the valley of the Guadalquivir, he often turned and looked back wistfully upon Cordova; and, at the distance of a league, when about to lose sight of it, he checked his steed upon the summit of a hill, and gazed for a long time upon its palaces and towers. Who acts: man, distance. A 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/22/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Chapter XIII.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/) / 22

# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XIII., sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As he traversed the valley of the Guadalquivir, he often turned and looked back wistfully upon Cordova; and, at the distance of a league, when about to lose sight of it, he checked his steed upon the summit of a hill, and gazed for a long time upon its palaces and towers.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, distance · **What happens:** traverse, turn, look back, lose, check, gaze · **To what, where:** valley, sight, steed

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (man, distance), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg77685:34:22
# text = As he traversed the valley of the Guadalquivir, he often turned and looked back wistfully upon Cordova; and, at the distance of a league, when about to lose sight of it, he checked his steed upon the summit of a hill, and gazed for a long time upon its palaces and towers.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	traversed	traverse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Guadalquivir	Guadalquivir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	often	often	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	wistfully	wistfully	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
17	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Cordova	Cordova	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	league	league	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
30	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
33	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	checked	check	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	summit	summit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	gazed	gaze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
50	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
54	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	palaces	palace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nmod	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **traverse** | past | man | the valley of the Guadalquivir |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme valley=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **turn** | past | man |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **look back** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon Cordova; wistfully *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent upon cordova=Theme |
| 4 | **lose** | to-infinitive | the distance of a league | sight of sight |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Eventuality |
| 5 | **check** | past | man | man's steed |  |  |  | upon the summit of a hill | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent steed=Theme |
| 6 | **gaze** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **sight** |  |  | sight |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/21/)
- next →: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/23/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XIII.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/)