---
title: But the knight said softly to himself, "This is foolishness, and we… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: But the knight said softly to himself, "This is foolishness, and we shall pay for it with our lives." Who acts: knight, we. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Slaying of Lothair, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Slaying of Lothair, sentence 40

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But the knight said softly to himself, "This is foolishness, and we shall pay for it with our lives."

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**Who acts:** knight, we · **What happens:** say, be, pay · **To what, where:** Duke, foolishness · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Slaying of Lothair. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knight, 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:pg75339:3:40
# text = But the knight said softly to himself, "This is foolishness, and we shall pay for it with our lives."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	foolishness	foolishness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the knight |  | Duke |  |  | softly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | this foolishness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pay** *in a quote* | shall | we |  |  |  |  | for foolishness; with our lives | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for it=Theme |

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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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