---
title: Several of the Moors surrounded her with drawn swords, threatening d… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: Several of the Moors surrounded her with drawn swords, threatening death to any that approached; others sprang from the bark, and, throwing themselves on their knees before the Alcayde, implored him, by his honour and courtesy as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from injury and insult. Who acts: 
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata., sentence 15

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Several of the Moors surrounded her with drawn swords, threatening death to any that approached; others sprang from the bark, and, throwing themselves on their knees before the Alcayde, implored him, by his honour and courtesy as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from injury and insult.

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**Who acts:** Moors, others, throwing, Alcayde · **What happens:** surround, draw, threaten, approach, spring, throw · **To what, where:** beauty, death, bark, others, knees, Alcayde

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Moors, others, throwing, Alcayde), 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:pg77685:4:15
# text = Several of the Moors surrounded her with drawn swords, threatening death to any that approached; others sprang from the bark, and, throwing themselves on their knees before the Alcayde, implored him, by his honour and courtesy as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from injury and insult.
1	Several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Moors	moor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
5	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	swords	sword	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	threatening	threaten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	conj	_	_
12	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
18	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	csubj	_	_
27	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
31	before	before	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Alcayde	Alcayde	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	implored	implore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	honour	honour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	courtesy	courtesy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
43	as	as	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	virgin	virgin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
52	from	from	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	injury	injury	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	insult	insult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **surround** | participle | the Moors *not said here* | beauty |  |  |  | drawn swords *obl:agent* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme she=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **draw** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **threaten** | gerund |  | death |  |  |  | to any | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus death=Experiencer |
| 4 | **approach** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **spring** | past | others |  |  | the bark |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from bark=Trajectory |
| 6 | **throw** | gerund |  | others *= other* |  | others's knees before the Alcayde |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme on knee=Destination |
| 7 | **implore** | past | throwing |  | Alcayde |  |  | by Alcayde's honour as a knight and courtesy | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 8 | **protect** | to-infinitive | throwing *not said here* | a royal virgin |  |  |  | from injury and insult | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent virgin=Beneficiary from injury=Theme |
| 10 | **honour** |  | Alcayde |  |  |  |  | as a knight | nom honour «state transitive»: poss=agent as=obl |

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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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