---
title: If he ask for hostages, let him have them, ten or twenty, as he may… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: If he ask for hostages, let him have them, ten or twenty, as he may desire. Who acts: Charles, you. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas, sentence 12

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If he ask for hostages, let him have them, ten or twenty, as he may desire.

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**Who acts:** Charles, you · **What happens:** ask, let, have, desire · **To what, where:** Charles, hostages

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Charles, you), 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:pg75339:27:12
# text = If he ask for hostages, let him have them, ten or twenty, as he may desire.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	hostages	hostage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	desire	desire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Charles |  |  |  |  | for hostages | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | Charles |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | infinitive | Charles *not said here* | hostages *= hostage* |  |  |  | ten *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **desire** | may | Charles |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

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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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