---
title: To protect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifi… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: To protect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifice with a ponderous door of iron, secured by a great lock of steel; and he left a command that every king who should succeed him should add another lock to the portal; denouncing woe and destruction on him who should eventually unfo
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Don Roderick Receives an Extraordinary Embassy., sentence 9

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To protect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifice with a ponderous door of iron, secured by a great lock of steel; and he left a command that every king who should succeed him should add another lock to the portal; denouncing woe and destruction on him who should eventually unfold the secret of the tower.

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**Who acts:** Libya, king · **What happens:** protect, close, secure, leave, succeed, add · **To what, where:** terrible mystery, ponderous door, command, Libya, woe, secret

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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 (Libya, king), 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:pg77685:7:9
# text = To protect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifice with a ponderous door of iron, secured by a great lock of steel; and he left a command that every king who should succeed him should add another lock to the portal; denouncing woe and destruction on him who should eventually unfold the secret of the tower.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	protect	protect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
4	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	mystery	mystery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	entrance	entrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	edifice	edifice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	ponderous	ponderous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	secured	secure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	lock	lock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	obj	_	_
34	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	det	_	_
35	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
36	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
37	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	succeed	succeed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	acl:relcl	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	add	add	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	acl:relcl	_	_
42	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	43	det	_	_
43	lock	lock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	portal	portal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
48	denouncing	denounce	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
49	woe	woe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	conj	_	_
52	on	on	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obl	_	_
54	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	_
55	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
56	eventually	eventually	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	unfold	unfold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protect** | to-infinitive | Libya *not said here* | this terrible mystery |  |  |  | to the edifice; with a ponderous door of iron; the entrance *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **close** | past | Libya | this terrible mystery *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mystery=Patient |
| 3 | **secure** | participle |  | a ponderous door of iron *not said here* |  |  |  | by a great lock of steel | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **leave** | past | Libya | a command |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent command=Theme |
| 5 | **succeed** | should | every king | Libya |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **add** *speech: assert* | should | every king | a command |  |  |  | to the portal; another lock *obj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **denounce** | gerund | Libya *not said here* | woe and destruction |  |  |  | on Libya | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woe=Theme |
| 8 | **unfold** | should |  | the secret of the tower |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; eventually *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent secret=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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