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title: This is foolishness," said the Duke; "what will their prayers profit… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: This is foolishness," said the Duke; "what will their prayers profit you if you lose your head?" " Who acts: foolishness, you, Huon. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of the End of the False Duke Macaire, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the End of the False Duke Macaire, sentence 35

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This is foolishness," said the Duke; "what will their prayers profit you if you lose your head?" "

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**Who acts:** foolishness, you, Huon · **What happens:** be, say, profit, lose, pray · **To what, where:** foolishness, head · **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, Of the End of the False Duke Macaire. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (foolishness, you, Huon), 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:pg75339:40:35
# text = This is foolishness," said the Duke; "what will their prayers profit you if you lose your head?" "
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	foolishness	foolishness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Duke	Duke	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	prayers	prayer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	compound	_	_
15	profit	profit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | this foolishness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | this foolishness |  |  |  |  | the Duke *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **profit** | future |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lose** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | your head |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |
| 5 | **pray** |  | Huon |  |  |  |  |  | nom prayer «act intransitive»: poss=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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