---
title: And when they would have kept him back he said, "I know that he is t… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: And when they would have kept him back he said, "I know that he is the strongest knight in all the world. Who acts: Roland. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of the Craft of Mawgis, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the Craft of Mawgis, sentence 38

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And when they would have kept him back he said, "I know that he is the strongest knight in all the world.

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**Who acts:** Roland · **What happens:** keep back, say, know, be · **To what, where:** marks, strongest knight, world · **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 Craft of Mawgis. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Roland), 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:pg75339:8:38
# text = And when they would have kept him back he said, "I know that he is the strongest knight in all the world.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep back** | would · perfect · passive |  | marks *= mark* |  |  |  | Roland *obj* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme he=Attribute |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Roland |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | Roland |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Roland | the strongest knight |  | all world |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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