---
title: This river flows as fast as a bolt flies out of a crossbow; so fierc… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: This river flows as fast as a bolt flies out of a crossbow; so fierce is the current that no boat or galley can by any means cross over it. Who acts: river, bolt, any. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of the Bridge of Mantryble, with its de
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the Bridge of Mantryble, sentence 67

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This river flows as fast as a bolt flies out of a crossbow; so fierce is the current that no boat or galley can by any means cross over it.

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**Who acts:** river, bolt, any · **What happens:** flow, fly out, be, mean · **To what, where:** crossbow, fierce current, cross, river

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of the Bridge of Mantryble. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (river, bolt, any), 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:pg75339:20:67
# text = This river flows as fast as a bolt flies out of a crossbow; so fierce is the current that no boat or galley can by any means cross over it.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	flows	flow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bolt	bolt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	flies	fly	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crossbow	crossbow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
22	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	galley	galley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
25	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
26	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	nsubj	_	_
28	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
29	cross	cross	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
30	over	over	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flow** | present | this river |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fly out** | present | a bolt | a crossbow |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location crossbow=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | the fierce current |  |  |  | no boat or galley *appos* | tree rules |
| 4 | **mean** | present | any | cross |  | river |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cross=Topic |

<!-- .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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