---
title: So be it," said the men of France, "we are few indeed, but we will n… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: So be it," said the men of France, "we are few indeed, but we will not fail of our duty." Who acts: coward, we. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Battle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 103

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So be it," said the men of France, "we are few indeed, but we will not fail of our duty."

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**Who acts:** coward, we · **What happens:** be, say, not fail · **To what, where:** coward, men · **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 Battle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (coward, 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:pg75339:31:103
# text = So be it," said the men of France, "we are few indeed, but we will not fail of our duty."
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
16	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | infinitive |  | coward |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | coward | the men of France |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | we |  |  |  |  | few, indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **fail** | future | we |  |  |  |  | of our duty | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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