---
title: First they charged on horseback, breaking both of them their spears,… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: First they charged on horseback, breaking both of them their spears, and with so great a shock that their horses fell to the ground. Who acts: Huon, horses. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How King Charles Sent Huon on an Errand, with its 
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How King Charles Sent Huon on an Errand, sentence 92

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First they charged on horseback, breaking both of them their spears, and with so great a shock that their horses fell to the ground.

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**Who acts:** Huon, horses · **What happens:** charge, break, fall · **To what, where:** horseback, both

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How King Charles Sent Huon on an Errand. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Huon, horses), 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:pg75339:38:92
# text = First they charged on horseback, breaking both of them their spears, and with so great a shock that their horses fell to the ground.
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	charged	charge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	horseback	horseback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nmod	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	spears	spear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	shock	shock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	parataxis	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **charge** | past | Huon |  |  | horseback |  | first *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on horseback=Trajectory |
| 2 | **break** | gerund | Huon *not said here* | both of Huon |  |  |  | Huon's spears *obj* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent both=Patient spear=Result |
| 3 | **fall** | past | Huon's horses |  |  |  |  | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme |

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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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