---
title: Better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose ou… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose our lordship and our lands, and be brought to beg our bread." Who acts: hostages, we. 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 it
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas, sentence 14

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Better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose our lordship and our lands, and be brought to beg our bread."

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**Who acts:** hostages, we · **What happens:** lose, bring, beg · **To what, where:** heads, lordship, bread

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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 (hostages, we), 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:pg75339:27:14
# text = Better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose our lordship and our lands, and be brought to beg our bread."
1	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	csubj	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	lordship	lordship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	lands	land	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	beg	beg	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
24	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | should | hostages *= hostage* | hostages's heads |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |
| 2 | **lose** | should | we | our lordship and our lands |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lordship=Eventuality |
| 3 | **bring** | infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together» |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | to-infinitive |  | our bread |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent bread=Recipient |

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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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