---
title: There was not one of them but slew a Saracen, but Oliver they could… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: There was not one of them but slew a Saracen, but Oliver they could not rescue, because they that had him in charge fled with all speed, so that the men of France could not by any means come up with them. Who acts: one, cries. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/38/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/) / [How Oliver and Others Were Taken Priso…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/) / 38

# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was not one of them but slew a Saracen, but Oliver they could not rescue, because they that had him in charge fled with all speed, so that the men of France could not by any means come up with them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one, cries · **What happens:** be, slay, not rescue, have, flee, not mean · **To what, where:** Saracen, body, charge · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, cries), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75339:18:38
# text = There was not one of them but slew a Saracen, but Oliver they could not rescue, because they that had him in charge fled with all speed, so that the men of France could not by any means come up with them.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Saracen	Saracen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	Oliver	oliver	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	rescue	rescue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	fled	flee	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	det	_	_
29	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	41	advmod	_	_
39	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	41	obl	_	_
41	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	ccomp	_	_
42	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	ccomp	_	_
43	up	up	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | one of cries |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **slay** | past | one of cries *not said here* | a Saracen |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent saracen=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **rescue** | could | cries *= cry* |  |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | past | cries *= cry* | body |  | charge |  | that *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 5 | **flee** | participle |  | charge *not said here* |  |  |  | with all speed | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **mean** | present | cries *= cry* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by any | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **come up** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with cries *= cry* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/37/)
- next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/39/)
- ↑ back to [How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/)