---
title: A sore battle we had with the Saracens yonder on the hills; they had… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: A sore battle we had with the Saracens yonder on the hills; they had the men of Canaan there and the men of Armenia and the Giants; there were no better men in their army than these. Who acts: sore battle, Saracens, better men. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Archbishop Turpin Died, sentence 14

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A sore battle we had with the Saracens yonder on the hills; they had the men of Canaan there and the men of Armenia and the Giants; there were no better men in their army than these.

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**Who acts:** sore battle, Saracens, better men · **What happens:** have, be · **To what, where:** men

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Archbishop Turpin Died. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sore battle, Saracens, better men), 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:pg75339:34:14
# text = A sore battle we had with the Saracens yonder on the hills; they had the men of Canaan there and the men of Armenia and the Giants; there were no better men in their army than these.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Saracens	Saracen	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
9	yonder	yonder	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Canaan	Canaan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Armenia	Armenia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Giants	Giant	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
30	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	31	expl	_	_
31	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
32	no	no	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	34	amod	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	than	than	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | a sore battle |  |  |  |  | with the hills  the Saracens; we *nsubj* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **have** | past | Saracens *= saracen* | the men of Canaan |  | there |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 3 | **be** | past | better men in men's army than these |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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