---
title: They began to write when the air was full of the crusading spirit, a… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: They began to write when the air was full of the crusading spirit, and their work is coloured accordingly. Who acts: Frenchmen, air. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Opening, sentence 18

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They began to write when the air was full of the crusading spirit, and their work is coloured accordingly.

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**Who acts:** Frenchmen, air · **What happens:** begin, write, be, crusade, colour, work · **To what, where:** work

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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 (Frenchmen, air), 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:pg75339:1:18
# text = They began to write when the air was full of the crusading spirit, and their work is coloured accordingly.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	crusading	crusade	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	amod	_	_
13	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	coloured	colour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
20	accordingly	accordingly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Frenchmen *= frenchman* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **write** | to-infinitive | Frenchmen *= frenchman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the air |  |  |  |  | of the crusading spirit; full *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **crusade** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **colour** | present · passive |  | Frenchmen's work |  |  |  | accordingly *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **work** |  | Frenchmen *= frenchman* |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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