---
title: “Father,” said he, “it is in vain you attempt to dissuade me. — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: “Father,” said he, “it is in vain you attempt to dissuade me. Who acts: Father, counsel, you. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Don Roderick Receives an Extraordinary Embassy., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Don Roderick Receives an Extraordinary Embassy., sentence 28

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“Father,” said he, “it is in vain you attempt to dissuade me.

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**Who acts:** Father, counsel, you · **What happens:** say, be, attempt, dissuade · **To what, where:** Father · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Don Roderick Receives an Extraordinary Embassy.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, counsel, you), 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:pg77685:7:28
# text = “Father,” said he, “it is in vain you attempt to dissuade me.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	attempt	attempt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	dissuade	dissuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Father |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | counsel |  |  |  |  | vain *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **attempt** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **dissuade** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  | Father |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5 «NP V NP PP.eventuality»: agent=Causer i=Beneficiary |

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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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