---
title: The new emir was of a cruel and suspicious nature, and commenced his… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The new emir was of a cruel and suspicious nature, and commenced his sway with a stern severity that soon made those under his command look back with regret to the easy rule of Abdalasis. Who acts: new emir, cruel nature, stern severity, Suleiman. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Legend of Count Julian and His Family., sentence 42

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The new emir was of a cruel and suspicious nature, and commenced his sway with a stern severity that soon made those under his command look back with regret to the easy rule of Abdalasis.

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**Who acts:** new emir, cruel nature, stern severity, Suleiman, Abdalasis · **What happens:** be, commence, make, look back, command, rule · **To what, where:** sway, stern severity, command · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (new emir, cruel nature, stern severity, Suleiman), 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:pg77685:39:42
# text = The new emir was of a cruel and suspicious nature, and commenced his sway with a stern severity that soon made those under his command look back with regret to the easy rule of Abdalasis.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	emir	emir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	suspicious	suspicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
10	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	commenced	commence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	sway	sway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	stern	stern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	severity	severity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
22	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	22	obj	_	_
24	under	under	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
28	back	back	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	regret	regret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Abdalasis	Abdalasis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the new emir |  |  |  |  | of a cruel nature | tree rules |
| 2 | **commence** | past | a cruel nature *not said here* | Suleiman's sway |  |  |  | with a stern severity | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: agent=Agent sway=Eventuality with severity=Subeventuality |
| 3 | **make** | past | a stern severity | a stern severity |  | Suleiman's command |  | soon *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset that=Product |
| 4 | **look back** | infinitive | a stern severity *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with regret; to the easy rule of Abdalasis | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to rule=Theme |
| 5 | **command** |  | Suleiman |  |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **rule** |  | Abdalasis |  |  |  |  |  | nom rule «cognition intransitive»: of=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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