---
title: King Clarion smote him on the shield, but could not break it through… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: King Clarion smote him on the shield, but could not break it through, so stiff and strong was it. Who acts: King. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Richard of Normandy, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of Richard of Normandy, sentence 44

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King Clarion smote him on the shield, but could not break it through, so stiff and strong was it.

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**Who acts:** King · **What happens:** smite, not break, be · **To what, where:** Clarion, shield

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Richard of Normandy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King), 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:pg75339:24:44
# text = King Clarion smote him on the shield, but could not break it through, so stiff and strong was it.
1	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Clarion	Clarion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	smote	smite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	break	break	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	through	through	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smite** | past | King | Clarion |  |  |  | on the shield | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Instrument on shield=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **break** | could |  | shield |  |  |  | through *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | shield |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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