---
title: A mighty blow it was, cleaving the man in twain down to his saddle--… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: A mighty blow it was, cleaving the man in twain down to his saddle--aye, and the saddle itself with its adorning of gold and jewels, and the very backbone also of the steed whereon he rode, so that horse and man fell dead together on the plains. " Who acts: sword, backbone, man. A sentence of «Stori
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 54

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A mighty blow it was, cleaving the man in twain down to his saddle--aye, and the saddle itself with its adorning of gold and jewels, and the very backbone also of the steed whereon he rode, so that horse and man fell dead together on the plains. "

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**Who acts:** sword, backbone, man · **What happens:** cleave, ride, fall · **To what, where:** man, twain, plains, mighty blow

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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 (sword, backbone, man), 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:pg75339:31:54
# text = A mighty blow it was, cleaving the man in twain down to his saddle--aye, and the saddle itself with its adorning of gold and jewels, and the very backbone also of the steed whereon he rode, so that horse and man fell dead together on the plains. "
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	cleaving	cleave	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	twain	twain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	saddle	saddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	aye	aye	INTJ	UH	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	saddle	saddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
22	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	21	nmod:unmarked	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	adorning	adorning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	jewels	jewel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	backbone	backbone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
35	also	also	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
39	whereon	whereon	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	41	advmod	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
43	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	fixed	_	_
45	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
48	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
49	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	xcomp	_	_
50	together	together	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
51	on	on	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	plains	plain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
55	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cleave** | past · progressive | sword | the man |  | twain |  | to blow's saddle *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent man=Patient to saddle=Result |
| 2 | **ride** | past | backbone |  |  |  |  | so horse; whereon *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fall** | past | man |  |  | the plains |  | dead, together *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on plain=Location |

<!-- .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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