---
title: If it be so, it is better that they should lose their heads than tha… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: If it be so, it is better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose this fair land of Spain." Who acts: rage, heads, 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 its dependency t
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas, sentence 19

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If it be so, it is better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose this fair land of Spain."

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**Who acts:** rage, heads, we · **What happens:** be, lose · **To what, where:** heads, fair land

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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 (rage, heads, 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:pg75339:27:19
# text = If it be so, it is better that they should lose their heads than that we should lose this fair land of Spain."
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	expl	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	csubj	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	lose	lose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
21	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Spain	Spain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | rage |  |  |  |  | so *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **lose** | should | heads *= head* | heads's heads |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |
| 4 | **lose** | should | we | this fair land of Spain |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=Eventuality |

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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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