---
title: But this did not avail him, for Fierabras smote twice on the shield,… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: But this did not avail him, for Fierabras smote twice on the shield, and so mightily that he brake it into pieces, and the breastplate under it also. Who acts: this, Fierabras, Straightway. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver Fought
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver Fought With Fierabras, sentence 46

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But this did not avail him, for Fierabras smote twice on the shield, and so mightily that he brake it into pieces, and the breastplate under it also.

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**Who acts:** this, Fierabras, Straightway · **What happens:** not avail, smite, break · **To what, where:** Straightway, shield, pieces

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver Fought With Fierabras. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, Fierabras, Straightway), 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:pg75339:17:46
# text = But this did not avail him, for Fierabras smote twice on the shield, and so mightily that he brake it into pieces, and the breastplate under it also.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	avail	avail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	Fierabras	Fierabras	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	smote	smite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	10	advmod	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	mightily	mightily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	brake	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	breastplate	breastplate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
29	under	under	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	also	also	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **avail** | past · do-support | this | Straightway |  |  |  | the breastplate under shield *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **smite** | past | Fierabras |  |  |  |  | on the shield; twice *property* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent on shield=Patient |
| 3 | **break** | infinitive | Straightway | shield |  |  |  | into pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent it=Patient into piece=Result |

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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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