---
title: Then the romance writers were Frenchmen, and they make the great kin… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the romance writers were Frenchmen, and they make the great king a Frenchman, holding his court in Paris, and surrounded by great French lords. Who acts: romance writers, Frenchmen. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Opening, with its de
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Opening, sentence 17

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Then the romance writers were Frenchmen, and they make the great king a Frenchman, holding his court in Paris, and surrounded by great French lords.

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**Who acts:** romance writers, Frenchmen · **What happens:** be, make, hold, surround · **To what, where:** Frenchmen, great king, court, Paris

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (romance writers, Frenchmen), 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:pg75339:1:17
# text = Then the romance writers were Frenchmen, and they make the great king a Frenchman, holding his court in Paris, and surrounded by great French lords.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	romance	romance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	writers	writer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	Frenchmen	frenchman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Frenchman	Frenchman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Paris	Paris	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
27	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	lords	lord	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the romance writers | Frenchmen |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | present | Frenchmen | the great king |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset king=Product |
| 3 | **hold** | gerund | Frenchmen *not said here* | writer's court |  | Paris |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent court=Theme in paris=Location |
| 4 | **surround** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | great French lords *obl:agent* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |

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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:** «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Project Gutenberg book 75339 (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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