---
title: Fifty thousand warriors followed him; blacker than ink were they all… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Fifty thousand warriors followed him; blacker than ink were they all, and with nothing that was white about them save only their teeth. " Who acts: thousand warriors, that. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver Was Slain, with its dep
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver Was Slain, sentence 26

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Fifty thousand warriors followed him; blacker than ink were they all, and with nothing that was white about them save only their teeth. "

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**Who acts:** thousand warriors, that · **What happens:** follow, be, save · **To what, where:** Chief, teeth

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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 (thousand warriors, that), 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:pg75339:33:26
# text = Fifty thousand warriors followed him; blacker than ink were they all, and with nothing that was white about them save only their teeth. "
1	Fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	compound	_	_
2	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	warriors	warrior	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
7	blacker	black	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	parataxis	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	ink	ink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	obl	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
20	about	about	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	save	save	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
23	only	only	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
27	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past | thousand warriors | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | about alas *= ala*; white *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **save** | present |  | alas's teeth |  |  |  | with nothing | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: 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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