Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 125

When Roland saw that the Duke Samson was dead, he rode fiercely at Valdabrun, and smote him so mightily with his great sword Durendal that he clave in twain helmet, head, and body, and saddle, and the very backbone of the horse, so that both fell dead together, both man and horse.

Who acts: Roland, Duke Samson, both · What happens: see, be, ride, smote, clave, fall · To what, where: body, Valdabrun, Roland, twain helmet, man · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Battle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Roland, Duke Samson, both), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.

The tree

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	When	when	ADV	PronType=Int	3 saw	advmod
2	Roland	Roland	PROPN	Number=Sing	3 saw	nsubj
3	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 rode	advcl
4	that	that	SCONJ	_	9 dead	mark
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 Samson	det
6	Duke	Duke	PROPN	Number=Sing	7 Samson	compound
7	Samson	Samson	PROPN	Number=Sing	9 dead	nsubj
8	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 dead	cop
9	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 saw	ccomp
10	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 saw	punct
11	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	12 rode	nsubj
12	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
13	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	_	12 rode	advmod
14	at	at	ADP	_	15 Valdabrun	case
15	Valdabrun	Valdabrun	PROPN	Number=Sing	12 rode	obl
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 smote	punct
17	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 smote	cc
18	smote	smote	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	12 rode	conj
19	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 smote	obj
20	so	so	ADV	_	21 mightily	advmod
21	mightily	mightily	ADV	_	18 smote	advmod
22	with	with	ADP	_	25 sword	case
23	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	25 sword	nmod:poss
24	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	25 sword	amod
25	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 smote	obl
26	Durendal	Durendal	PROPN	Number=Sing	25 sword	appos
27	that	that	SCONJ	_	29 clave	mark
28	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	29 clave	nsubj
29	clave	clave	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 smote	ccomp
30	in	in	ADP	_	32 helmet	case
31	twain	twain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	32 helmet	amod
32	helmet	helmet	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 clave	nmod
33	,	,	PUNCT	_	34 head	punct
34	head	head	NOUN	Number=Sing	32 helmet	conj
35	,	,	PUNCT	_	37 body	punct
36	and	and	CCONJ	_	37 body	cc
37	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 rode	obl
38	,	,	PUNCT	_	40 saddle	punct
39	and	and	CCONJ	_	40 saddle	cc
40	saddle	saddle	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 rode	obl
41	,	,	PUNCT	_	45 backbone	punct
42	and	and	CCONJ	_	45 backbone	cc
43	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	45 backbone	det
44	very	very	ADV	_	45 backbone	advmod
45	backbone	backbone	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 rode	obl
46	of	of	ADP	_	48 horse	case
47	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	48 horse	det
48	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	45 backbone	nmod
49	,	,	PUNCT	_	53 fell	punct
50	so	so	SCONJ	ExtPos=SCONJ	53 fell	mark
51	that	that	SCONJ	_	50 so	fixed
52	both	both	DET	PronType=Tot	53 fell	nsubj
53	fell	fall	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	12 rode	conj
54	dead	dead	ADJ	Degree=Pos	53 fell	xcomp
55	together	together	ADV	_	53 fell	advmod
56	,	,	PUNCT	_	58 man	punct
57	both	both	CCONJ	_	58 man	cc:preconj
58	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	53 fell	obl
59	and	and	CCONJ	_	60 horse	cc
60	horse	horse	NOUN	Number=Sing	58 man	conj
61	.	.	PUNCT	_	12 rode	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	see	past	Roland				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	is	past	the Duke Samson			dead property	tree rules
3	ride	past	Roland	body	Valdabrun	saddle obl; the backbone of the horse obl; fiercely property	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
4	smote	infinitive	Roland not said here	Roland		with Roland's great sword; mightily property	tree rules
5	clave		Roland		twain helmet and head		tree rules
6	fall	past	both	man and horse		dead, together property	vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

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.

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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🌲 Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 125

The tree

Pragmatics

Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 125