---
title: He had two siege-engines of marvellous power, which were so contrive… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: He had two siege-engines of marvellous power, which were so contrived that they who worked them could not be hurt by the enemy. Who acts: Mahon, engines, enemy. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Guy of Burgundy, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of Guy of Burgundy, sentence 87

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He had two siege-engines of marvellous power, which were so contrived that they who worked them could not be hurt by the enemy.

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**Who acts:** Mahon, engines, enemy · **What happens:** have, contrive, work, not hurt · **To what, where:** two siege engines, engines

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Guy of Burgundy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mahon, engines, enemy), 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:pg75339:23:87
# text = He had two siege-engines of marvellous power, which were so contrived that they who worked them could not be hurt by the enemy.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
4	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	engines	engine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	marvellous	marvellous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	contrived	contrive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	ccomp	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Mahon | two siege engines of marvellous power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent engine=Patient |
| 2 | **contrive** | past · passive |  | two siege engines of marvellous power |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |
| 3 | **work** | past | engines *= engine* |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **hurt** | could · passive | the enemy | engines *= engine* |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Patient |

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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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