--- title: “Whatever is within this tower,” said they, “is as yet harmless, and… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics description: “Whatever is within this tower,” said they, “is as yet harmless, and lies bound under a mighty spell: venture not then to open a door which may let forth a flood of evil upon the land.” Who acts: towers, evil. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Story of the Marvel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/8/27/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the conquest of Spain](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/) / [Story of the Marvellous and Portentous…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/8/) / 27 # Legends of the conquest of Spain, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower., sentence 27 “Whatever is within this tower,” said they, “is as yet harmless, and lies bound under a mighty spell: venture not then to open a door which may let forth a flood of evil upon the land.” **Who acts:** towers, evil · **What happens:** be, say, lie, bind, not open, let · **To what, where:** mighty spell, venture, flood · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (towers, evil), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg77685:8:27 # text = “Whatever is within this tower,” said they, “is as yet harmless, and lies bound under a mighty spell: venture not then to open a door which may let forth a flood of evil upon the land.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Whatever whatever PRON WP PronType=Rel 9 ccomp _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 within within ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 det _ _ 6 tower tower NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 “ " PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 14 as as SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 15 yet yet ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 harmless harmless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 lies lie VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 advcl _ _ 20 bound bind VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 xcomp _ _ 21 under under ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 spell spell NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 : : PUNCT : _ 26 punct _ _ 26 venture venture NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 28 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 30 advmod _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 open open VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 ccomp _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 34 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 conj _ _ 36 forth forth ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 flood flood NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 evil evil NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 41 upon upon ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ” " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | within this tower | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | towers *= tower* | | | | | Whatever *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | yet | harmless *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **lie** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **bind** *in a quote* | participle | | | | a mighty spell | | | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **not** **open** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | venture | | | then | a door *obj* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme | | 7 | **let** *in a quote* | may | | a flood of evil | | | | upon the land; which *nsubj*; forth *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flood=Theme | | 8 | **flood** *in a quote* | | evil | | | | | | nom flood «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/8/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/8/28/) - ↑ back to [Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/8/)