---
title: When the brethren found that a great treachery had been practised up… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: When the brethren found that a great treachery had been practised upon them, they prepared to defend themselves, having first confessed their sins to each other, for lack of a priest to whom they might confess. Who acts: brethren, knights. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers o
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the Treachery of King John, sentence 75

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When the brethren found that a great treachery had been practised upon them, they prepared to defend themselves, having first confessed their sins to each other, for lack of a priest to whom they might confess.

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**Who acts:** brethren, knights · **What happens:** find, practise, prepare, defend, have, confess · **To what, where:** great treachery, knights, sins, each, priest · **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 Treachery of King John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brethren, knights), 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:pg75339:7:75
# text = When the brethren found that a great treachery had been practised upon them, they prepared to defend themselves, having first confessed their sins to each other, for lack of a priest to whom they might confess.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	treachery	treachery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	practised	practise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	ccomp	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	defend	defend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
22	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	advmod	_	_
23	confessed	confess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	sins	sin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	23	obl	_	_
28	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nmod	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	confess	confess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | the brethren |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **practise** | past · perfect · passive |  | a great treachery |  |  |  | upon knights *= knight* | tree rules |
| 3 | **prepare** | past | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **defend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **have** | gerund | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **confess** | past | knights *= knight* *not said here* | knights's sins | each |  |  | for lack of a priest to lack of a priest to lack; first *property* | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent sin=Topic to each=Recipient |
| 7 | **confess** | might | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **lack** |  |  | a priest to lack of a priest to lack of a priest |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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