---
title: The ancient men obeyed with fear and trembling, but their hands shoo… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: The ancient men obeyed with fear and trembling, but their hands shook with age, and when they applied the keys, the locks were so rusted by time, or of such strange workmanship, that they resisted their feeble efforts; whereupon the young cavaliers pressed forward and lent their aid. Who acts: ancie
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower., sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The ancient men obeyed with fear and trembling, but their hands shook with age, and when they applied the keys, the locks were so rusted by time, or of such strange workmanship, that they resisted their feeble efforts; whereupon the young cavaliers pressed forward and lent their aid.

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**Who acts:** ancient men, hands, guardians, young cavaliers · **What happens:** obey, tremble, shook, apply, rust, resist · **To what, where:** keys, locks, feeble efforts, aid

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ancient men, hands, guardians, young cavaliers), 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:pg77685:8:24
# text = The ancient men obeyed with fear and trembling, but their hands shook with age, and when they applied the keys, the locks were so rusted by time, or of such strange workmanship, that they resisted their feeble efforts; whereupon the young cavaliers pressed forward and lent their aid.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	shook	shook	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	applied	apply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	keys	key	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	locks	lock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	rusted	rust	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	parataxis	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	workmanship	workmanship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	resisted	resist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
42	feeble	feeble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	efforts	effort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	whereupon	whereupon	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	49	advmod	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	cavaliers	cavalier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
49	pressed	press	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
50	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	lent	lend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
53	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obey** | past | the ancient men |  |  |  |  | with fear | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tremble** | gerund | the ancient men *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **shook** | present | guardians's hands |  |  |  | with age |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **apply** | past | guardians *= guardian* | the keys |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent key=Theme |
| 5 | **rust** | past · passive |  | the locks |  |  | time | of such strange workmanship | tree rules |
| 6 | **resist** | past | guardians *= guardian* | guardians's feeble efforts |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **press forward** | past | the young cavaliers |  |  |  |  | forward, whereupon *property* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **lend** | past | the young cavaliers *not said here* | guardians's aid |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent aid=Theme |

<!-- .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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