---
title: Thus did the Saracens gain possession of the first defences of the T… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Thus did the Saracens gain possession of the first defences of the Tower; yet having won them, they could not long hold them, for the French knights did their part right bravely, hurling down from the upper parts stones and darts, and all kinds of missiles, and these so strongly that no man could st
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of Guy of Burgundy, sentence 88

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Thus did the Saracens gain possession of the first defences of the Tower; yet having won them, they could not long hold them, for the French knights did their part right bravely, hurling down from the upper parts stones and darts, and all kinds of missiles, and these so strongly that no man could stand against them.

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**Who acts:** engines, Saracens, French knights, kinds · **What happens:** do, gain, have, win, not hold, hurl down · **To what, where:** possession, engines, defences, part, upper parts stones, first defences

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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 (engines, Saracens, French knights, kinds), 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:pg75339:23:88
# text = Thus did the Saracens gain possession of the first defences of the Tower; yet having won them, they could not long hold them, for the French knights did their part right bravely, hurling down from the upper parts stones and darts, and all kinds of missiles, and these so strongly that no man could stand against them.
1	Thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Saracens	Saracen	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	gain	gain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	10	amod	_	_
10	defences	defence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Tower	Tower	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	nsubj	_	_
17	won	win	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
24	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
31	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	right	right	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	bravely	bravely	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	hurling	hurl	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	advcl	_	_
38	down	down	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	parts	part	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	compound	_	_
43	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	darts	dart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
48	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	49	det	_	_
49	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nsubj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	missiles	missile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
54	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	61	nsubj	_	_
55	so	so	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
56	strongly	strongly	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
57	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
58	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	59	det	_	_
59	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
60	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
62	against	against	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | engines *= engine* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **gain** | present | the Saracens | possession of the first defences of the Tower |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possession=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **win** | past |  | engines *= engine* |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 5 | **not** **hold** | could | engines *= engine* | defences *= defence* |  |  |  | long *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 6 | **do** | past | the French knights | engines's part |  |  |  | bravely *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Eventuality |
| 7 | **hurl down** | gerund | the French knights *not said here* |  |  | the upper parts stones and darts |  | down *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from stone=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **stand** | could | all kinds of missiles |  |  |  |  | against engines *= engine*; these *nsubj*; no man *nsubj*; strongly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent against they=Location |
| 9 | **possess** |  |  | the first defences of the Tower |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **defend** |  |  | the Tower |  |  |  |  | nom defence «process transitive»: of=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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