--- title: Many a blow did he deal to the enemy with his mighty spear, and when… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics description: Many a blow did he deal to the enemy with his mighty spear, and when the spear was shivered in his hand, fifteen warriors having fallen before it, then he seized his good sword Durendal, and smote man after man to the ground. Who acts: Many blow, fifteen warriors, blow. A sentence of «Stories of Cha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/40/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/) / [The Battle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/) / 40 # Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 40 Many a blow did he deal to the enemy with his mighty spear, and when the spear was shivered in his hand, fifteen warriors having fallen before it, then he seized his good sword Durendal, and smote man after man to the ground. **Who acts:** Many blow, fifteen warriors, blow · **What happens:** deal, shiver, have, fall, seize, smite · **To what, where:** spear, hand, good sword, man 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 (Many blow, fifteen warriors, blow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75339:31:40 # text = Many a blow did he deal to the enemy with his mighty spear, and when the spear was shivered in his hand, fifteen warriors having fallen before it, then he seized his good sword Durendal, and smote man after man to the ground. 1 Many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 4 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 deal deal VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 10 with with ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 12 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 spear spear NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 16 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 20 advmod _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 spear spear NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj:pass _ _ 19 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux:pass _ _ 20 shivered shiver VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 parataxis _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 fifteen fifteen NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 26 nummod _ _ 26 warriors warrior NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ _ 27 having have VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 26 acl _ _ 28 fallen fall VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 xcomp _ _ 29 before before ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 34 advmod _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 seized seize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 parataxis _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 36 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 38 Durendal Durendal PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 smote smite VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 conj _ _ 42 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 43 after after ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 45 to to ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **deal** | past · do-support | a Many blow | | | | | to the enemy; with blow's mighty spear; blow *nsubj* | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with spear=Theme | | 2 | **shiver** | past · passive | | the spear | | blow's hand | | fifteen warriors *obl* | tree rules | | 3 | **have** | gerund | fifteen warriors *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **fall** | participle | fifteen warriors *not said here* | | | spear | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before it=Location | | 5 | **seize** | past | blow | blow's good sword | | | then | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 6 | **smite** | past | blow *not said here* | man | | | after man | to the ground *result* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent man=Patient to ground=Result | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/39/) - next →: [sentence 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/41/) - ↑ back to [The Battle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/)