---
title: If man be not brave and a stout fighter, he had better by far be a m… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: If man be not brave and a stout fighter, he had better by far be a monk in some cloister where he may pray all day long for our sins." Who acts: man. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver Was Slain, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver Was Slain, sentence 12

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If man be not brave and a stout fighter, he had better by far be a monk in some cloister where he may pray all day long for our sins."

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** not be, have, be, pray · **To what, where:** monk, cloister

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver Was Slain. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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:pg75339:33:12
# text = If man be not brave and a stout fighter, he had better by far be a monk in some cloister where he may pray all day long for our sins."
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	stout	stout	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	fighter	fighter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	xcomp	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	obl	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	cloister	cloister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	pray	pray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	sins	sin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | infinitive | man |  |  |  |  | a stout fighter *conj*; brave *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | man |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | infinitive |  | a monk |  | some cloister |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **pray** | may | man |  |  |  | day | long *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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