---
title: In this he was aided by his brother-in-law, Oppas, the bishop of Sev… — Legends of the conquest of Spain · tree and pragmatics
description: In this he was aided by his brother-in-law, Oppas, the bishop of Seville: a man dark and perfidious as the night, but devout in demeanour, and smoothly plausible in council. Who acts: brother. A sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter VIII., with its dependency t
---

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# Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter VIII., sentence 53

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In this he was aided by his brother-in-law, Oppas, the bishop of Seville: a man dark and perfidious as the night, but devout in demeanour, and smoothly plausible in council.

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**Who acts:** brother · **What happens:** aid · **To what, where:** this

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter VIII.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother), 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:pg77685:9:53
# text = In this he was aided by his brother-in-law, Oppas, the bishop of Seville: a man dark and perfidious as the night, but devout in demeanour, and smoothly plausible in council.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	aided	aid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	Oppas	Oppas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bishop	bishop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Seville	Seville	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	perfidious	perfidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	devout	devout	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	demeanour	demeanour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	smoothly	smoothly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	plausible	plausible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **aid** | past · passive | domain's brother and law | this |  |  |  | domain *nsubj* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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- ↑ back to [Chapter VIII.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77685/9/)