--- title: But this they could not do, for the creature won its way to the gate… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics description: But this they could not do, for the creature won its way to the gates of the Tower, and these the knights opened to receive him, lamenting much, for they had no doubt but that Duke Richard had been slain. Who acts: this, creature, knights, horses. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/24/57/) [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/) / [Of Richard of Normandy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/24/) / 57 # Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of Richard of Normandy, sentence 57 But this they could not do, for the creature won its way to the gates of the Tower, and these the knights opened to receive him, lamenting much, for they had no doubt but that Duke Richard had been slain. **Who acts:** this, creature, knights, horses · **What happens:** not do, win, open, receive, lament, have · **To what, where:** way, beast, doubt, slain 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 (this, creature, knights, horses), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75339:24:57 # text = But this they could not do, for the creature won its way to the gates of the Tower, and these the knights opened to receive him, lamenting much, for they had no doubt but that Duke Richard had been slain. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 2 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 nsubj:outer _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 4 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 6 advmod _ _ 6 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 8 for for SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 won win VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 12 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 gates gate NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 Tower Tower PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 22 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 24 det _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 knights knight NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 25 opened open VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 receive receive VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 28 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 lamenting lament VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 advcl _ _ 31 much much ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 for for ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 36 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 37 det _ _ 37 doubt doubt NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 but but CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 39 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 41 nsubj _ _ 40 Duke Duke PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 Richard Richard PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 conj _ _ 42 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 43 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 44 cop _ _ 44 slain slain NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **do** | could | this | | | | | horses *= horse* *nsubj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **win** | past | the creature | creature's way | | | | to the gates of the Tower | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Eventuality | | 3 | **open** | past | this knights | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **receive** | to-infinitive | this knights *not said here* | beast | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 5 | **lament** | gerund | this knights *not said here* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **have** | past | horses *= horse* | no doubt but Duke Richard that | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent doubt=Patient | | 7 | **is a** | past · perfect | | slain | | | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/24/56/) - next →: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/24/58/) - ↑ back to [Of Richard of Normandy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/24/)