---
title: But when the courtiers made as if to lay hands upon him Roland cried… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: But when the courtiers made as if to lay hands upon him Roland cried, "Now, if any man touch me I will cleave his head in two." Who acts: King, man. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Fierabras Defied King Charles, with its dependency tre
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Fierabras Defied King Charles, sentence 32

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But when the courtiers made as if to lay hands upon him Roland cried, "Now, if any man touch me I will cleave his head in two."

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**Who acts:** King, man · **What happens:** make, lay, cry, touch, cleave · **To what, where:** courtiers, hands, King, head, two · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Fierabras Defied King Charles. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, man), 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:pg75339:16:32
# text = But when the courtiers made as if to lay hands upon him Roland cried, "Now, if any man touch me I will cleave his head in two."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	courtiers	courtier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	upon	upon	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	Roland	Roland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	cleave	cleave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle · passive |  | the courtiers |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **lay** | to-infinitive |  | hands |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Result |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | King |  |  |  | now | Roland *nsubj* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **touch** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | infinitive | any man | King |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme i=Co-Theme |
| 5 | **cleave** *in a quote* | future | King | King's head |  | two |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «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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