---
title: In vain, however, did one after another exert his strength; and equa… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: In vain, however, did one after another exert his strength; and equally in vain did the cavaliers unite their forces, and apply their shoulders to the gate: though there was neither bar nor bolt remaining, it was perfectly immoveable. Who acts: cavaliers, strength. A sentence of «Legends of the conq
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Story of the Marvellous and Portentous Tower., sentence 29

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In vain, however, did one after another exert his strength; and equally in vain did the cavaliers unite their forces, and apply their shoulders to the gate: though there was neither bar nor bolt remaining, it was perfectly immoveable.

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**Who acts:** cavaliers, strength · **What happens:** do, exert, unite, apply, be, bolt · **To what, where:** one, vain, strength, forces, shoulders, bar

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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 (cavaliers, strength), 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:pg77685:8:29
# text = In vain, however, did one after another exert his strength; and equally in vain did the cavaliers unite their forces, and apply their shoulders to the gate: though there was neither bar nor bolt remaining, it was perfectly immoveable.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obj	_	_
8	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	_
10	exert	exert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
18	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cavaliers	cavalier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	unite	unite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	forces	force	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	apply	apply	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	35	expl	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	37	cc:preconj	_	_
37	bar	bar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
38	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	39	cc	_	_
39	bolt	bolt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
40	remaining	remain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	39	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	immoveable	immoveable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past |  | one |  | vain |  | however *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Eventuality |
| 2 | **exert** | infinitive |  | King's strength |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Theme |
| 3 | **unite** | past · do-support | the cavaliers | cavaliers's forces |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent force=Patient |
| 4 | **apply** | infinitive | the cavaliers *not said here* | cavaliers's shoulders |  |  |  | to the gate | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shoulder=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | past |  | bar |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **bolt** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **remain** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **is** | past | strength |  |  |  |  | immoveable, perfectly *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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