---
title: He had newly taken the fair city of Cordova, having broken down the… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: He had newly taken the fair city of Cordova, having broken down the walls and towers with his engines of war, and with the city he had taken a great spoil of gold and silver. Who acts: Charles. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ganelon W
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ganelon Went on an Errand to King Marsilas, sentence 28

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He had newly taken the fair city of Cordova, having broken down the walls and towers with his engines of war, and with the city he had taken a great spoil of gold and silver.

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**Who acts:** Charles · **What happens:** take, have, break down, spoil · **To what, where:** fair city, broken walls, great spoil, gold

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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), 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:pg75339:27:28
# text = He had newly taken the fair city of Cordova, having broken down the walls and towers with his engines of war, and with the city he had taken a great spoil of gold and silver.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	newly	newly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Cordova	Cordova	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
12	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
13	down	down	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	engines	engine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	spoil	spoil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · perfect | Charles | the fair city of Cordova |  |  |  | newly *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent city=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | gerund |  | the broken walls and towers |  |  |  | with Charles's engines of war | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Patient |
| 3 | **break down** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | Charles | a great spoil of gold and silver |  |  |  | with the city | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spoil=Theme |
| 5 | **spoil** |  |  | gold |  |  |  |  | nom spoil «possession transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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