---
title: While he was speaking a certain knight in the company of Duke Richar… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was speaking a certain knight in the company of Duke Richard slew Gerard's nephew before his face. Who acts: friend. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How the Duke Benes Came By His End, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How the Duke Benes Came By His End, sentence 43

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While he was speaking a certain knight in the company of Duke Richard slew Gerard's nephew before his face.

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**Who acts:** friend · **What happens:** speak, slay · **To what, where:** certain knight, company, nephew · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How the Duke Benes Came By His End. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friend), 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:pg75339:4:43
# text = While he was speaking a certain knight in the company of Duke Richard slew Gerard's nephew before his face.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	Duke	Duke	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Richard	Richard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	Gerard	Gerard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	nephew	nephew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | friend | a certain knight |  | the company of Duke Richard |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **slay** | past |  | Gerard's nephew |  |  | before friend's face |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nephew=Patient |

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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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