---
title: He tried in vain to persuade himself that he had but taken a justifi… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: He tried in vain to persuade himself that he had but taken a justifiable vengeance: he felt that no personal wrong can justify the crime of treason to one’s country. Who acts: tree, personal wrong. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Legend of Count Julian and His 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Legend of Count Julian and His Family., sentence 17

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He tried in vain to persuade himself that he had but taken a justifiable vengeance: he felt that no personal wrong can justify the crime of treason to one’s country.

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**Who acts:** tree, personal wrong · **What happens:** try, persuade, have, take, feel, justify · **To what, where:** vain, tree, justifiable vengeance, crime, one country, treason

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Legend of Count Julian and His Family.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tree, personal wrong), 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:pg77685:39:17
# text = He tried in vain to persuade himself that he had but taken a justifiable vengeance: he felt that no personal wrong can justify the crime of treason to one’s country.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	justifiable	justifiable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	vengeance	vengeance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
21	personal	personal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	wrong	wrong	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	justify	justify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	crime	crime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	treason	treason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’s	's	PART	POS	_	30	case	_	_
32	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | tree |  |  | vain |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **persuade** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | tree *not said here* | tree |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **take** | participle | tree *not said here* | a justifiable vengeance |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vengeance=Theme |
| 5 | **feel** | past | tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **justify** *speech: other* | can | no personal wrong | the crime of treason | one country |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent crime=Topic to country=Recipient |
| 7 | **incriminate** |  |  | treason |  |  |  |  | nom crime «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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