---
title: The messenger who bore it overtook the caliph as he was performing a… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The messenger who bore it overtook the caliph as he was performing a pilgrimage to Mecca. Who acts: messenger, caliph. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Fate of Abdalasis and Exilona.—death of Muza., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Fate of Abdalasis and Exilona.—death of Muza., sentence 51

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The messenger who bore it overtook the caliph as he was performing a pilgrimage to Mecca.

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**Who acts:** messenger, caliph · **What happens:** bear, overtake, perform · **To what, where:** messenger, caliph, pilgrimage

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Fate of Abdalasis and Exilona.—death of Muza.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (messenger, 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:pg77685:38:51
# text = The messenger who bore it overtook the caliph as he was performing a pilgrimage to Mecca.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	overtook	overtake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	caliph	caliph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	performing	perform	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	pilgrimage	pilgrimage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	Mecca	Mecca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | the messenger | messenger |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **overtake** | past | the messenger | the caliph |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **perform** | past · progressive | caliph | a pilgrimage |  |  |  | to Mecca | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pilgrimage=Theme |

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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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