---
title: “They are like Arabs in the fierceness and dexterity of their attack… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “They are like Arabs in the fierceness and dexterity of their attacks, and in their knowledge of the stratagems of war; they resemble them, too, in feature, in fortitude, and hospitality; but they are the most perfidious people upon earth, and never regard promise or plighted faith.” Who acts: Moors
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XIII., sentence 45

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“They are like Arabs in the fierceness and dexterity of their attacks, and in their knowledge of the stratagems of war; they resemble them, too, in feature, in fortitude, and hospitality; but they are the most perfidious people upon earth, and never regard promise or plighted faith.”

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**Who acts:** Moors · **What happens:** be, resemble, not regard, plight, attack · **To what, where:** fierceness, stratagems, feature, perfidious people, promise

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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 (Moors), 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:pg77685:34:45
# text = “They are like Arabs in the fierceness and dexterity of their attacks, and in their knowledge of the stratagems of war; they resemble them, too, in feature, in fortitude, and hospitality; but they are the most perfidious people upon earth, and never regard promise or plighted faith.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Arabs	arab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fierceness	fierceness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	dexterity	dexterity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	attacks	attack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	stratagems	stratagem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	resemble	resemble	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	too	too	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	feature	feature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	fortitude	fortitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	hospitality	hospitality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
40	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
42	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
44	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	45	advmod	_	_
45	perfidious	perfidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
47	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	regard	regard	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	46	parataxis	_	_
53	promise	promise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
54	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	plighted	plight	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	56	amod	_	_
56	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	52	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Moors *= moor* |  |  | the fierceness and dexterity of Moors's attacks |  | like Arabs and Moors's knowledge of the stratagems of war but the perfidious people; Moors's knowledge of the stratagems of war *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **resemble** *in a quote* | present | Moors *= moor* | stratagems *= stratagem* |  | feature |  | fortitude and hospitality *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Moors *= moor* | the perfidious people |  |  |  | upon earth | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **regard** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | promise or plighted faith |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent promise=Theme |
| 5 | **plight** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **attack** *in a quote* |  | Moors *= moor* |  |  |  |  |  | nom attack «act 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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- ← previous: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/44/)
- next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/46/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XIII.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/34/)