---
title: Now Suleiman ben Abdelmelec, brother to the caliph, was successor to… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Now Suleiman ben Abdelmelec, brother to the caliph, was successor to the throne; and he saw that his brother had not long to live, and wished to grace the commencement of his reign by this triumphant display of the spoils of Christendom: he sent messengers, therefore, to Muza, saying, “The caliph is
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter XIV., sentence 4

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Now Suleiman ben Abdelmelec, brother to the caliph, was successor to the throne; and he saw that his brother had not long to live, and wished to grace the commencement of his reign by this triumphant display of the spoils of Christendom: he sent messengers, therefore, to Muza, saying, “The caliph is ill, and cannot receive thee at present; I pray thee tarry on the road until his recovery.”

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**Who acts:** Suleiman, CALIPH · **What happens:** be, see, live, wish, grace, spoil · **To what, where:** successor, commencement, messengers, Muza, thee, present · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter XIV.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Suleiman, CALIPH), 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:pg77685:35:4
# text = Now Suleiman ben Abdelmelec, brother to the caliph, was successor to the throne; and he saw that his brother had not long to live, and wished to grace the commencement of his reign by this triumphant display of the spoils of Christendom: he sent messengers, therefore, to Muza, saying, “The caliph is ill, and cannot receive thee at present; I pray thee tarry on the road until his recovery.”
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
2	Suleiman	Suleiman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
3	ben	ben	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:desc	_	_
4	Abdelmelec	Abdelmelec	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	caliph	caliph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	successor	successor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	grace	grace	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	commencement	commencement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	reign	reign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	41	det	_	_
40	triumphant	triumphant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	display	display	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
42	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	spoils	spoil	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	Christendom	Christendom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
50	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	to	to	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	Muza	Muza	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
57	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	49	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
59	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	63	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	caliph	caliph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	nsubj	_	_
62	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	63	cop	_	_
63	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	68	cc	_	_
66	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	68	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	68	advmod	_	_
68	receive	receive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	63	conj	_	_
69	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	68	obj	_	_
70	at	at	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
71	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	68	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
73	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	74	nsubj	_	_
74	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
75	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	74	obj	_	_
76	tarry	tarry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	74	xcomp	_	_
77	on	on	ADP	IN	_	79	case	_	_
78	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	79	det	_	_
79	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obl	_	_
80	until	until	ADP	IN	_	82	case	_	_
81	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	82	nmod:poss	_	_
82	recovery	recovery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | successor |  |  |  | to the throne | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past | Suleiman |  |  |  | now | CALIPH *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **live** | to-infinitive | Suleiman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **wish** | past | Suleiman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **grace** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Suleiman *not said here* | the commencement of CALIPH's reign |  |  |  | by this triumphant display | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme commencement=Destination |
| 6 | **spoil** | present | Suleiman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of Christendom | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **send** | past | CALIPH | messengers | Muza |  |  | therefore *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme to muza=Destination |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | CALIPH *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the caliph |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **not** **receive** *in a quote* | can | the caliph *not said here* | thee |  | present |  |  | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent thou=Theme at present=Location |
| 11 | **pray** *in a quote* | present | CALIPH | thee |  | the road | until CALIPH's recovery | tarry *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **recover** *in a quote* |  | CALIPH |  |  |  |  |  | nom recovery «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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.

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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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/35/3/)
- next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/35/5/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XIV.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/35/)