---
title: “What means my father,” said he, “in cautioning me against treachery… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “What means my father,” said he, “in cautioning me against treachery and treason? Who acts: father. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Conduct of Abdalasis As Emir of Spain., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Conduct of Abdalasis As Emir of Spain., sentence 16

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“What means my father,” said he, “in cautioning me against treachery and treason?

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**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** mean, say, caution · **To what, where:** me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Conduct of Abdalasis As Emir of Spain.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father), 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:pg77685:36:16
# text = “What means my father,” said he, “in cautioning me against treachery and treason?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	cautioning	caution	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	ccomp	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	against	against	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	treachery	treachery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	treason	treason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | What *nsubj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  | my father *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **caution** *speech: other* *in a quote* | gerund | father |  | me |  |  | against treachery and treason | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent i=Recipient against treachery=Topic |

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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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