Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Battle, sentence 40
Many a blow did he deal to the enemy with his mighty spear, and when the spear was shivered in his hand, fifteen warriors having fallen before it, then he seized his good sword Durendal, and smote man after man to the ground.
Who acts: Many blow, fifteen warriors, blow · What happens: deal, shiver, have, fall, seize, smite · To what, where: spear, hand, good sword, man
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 (Many blow, fifteen warriors, blow), 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 | Many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 blow | amod |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 blow | det |
| 3 | blow | blow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 deal | nsubj |
| 4 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 deal | aux |
| 5 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 deal | nsubj |
| 6 | deal | deal | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 enemy | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 enemy | det |
| 9 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 deal | obl |
| 10 | with | with | ADP | _ | 13 spear | case |
| 11 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 13 spear | nmod:poss |
| 12 | mighty | mighty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 spear | amod |
| 13 | spear | spear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 deal | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 shivered | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 shivered | cc |
| 16 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 20 shivered | advmod |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 spear | det |
| 18 | spear | spear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 shivered | nsubj:pass |
| 19 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 shivered | aux:pass |
| 20 | shivered | shiver | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 deal | parataxis |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 hand | case |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 hand | nmod:poss |
| 23 | hand | hand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 shivered | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 warriors | punct |
| 25 | fifteen | fifteen | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 26 warriors | nummod |
| 26 | warriors | warrior | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 shivered | obl |
| 27 | having | have | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 26 warriors | acl |
| 28 | fallen | fall | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 having | xcomp |
| 29 | before | before | ADP | _ | 30 it | case |
| 30 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 fallen | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 seized | punct |
| 32 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 34 seized | advmod |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 seized | nsubj |
| 34 | seized | seize | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 shivered | parataxis |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 sword | nmod:poss |
| 36 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 sword | amod |
| 37 | sword | sword | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 seized | obj |
| 38 | Durendal | Durendal | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 sword | appos |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 smote | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 smote | cc |
| 41 | smote | smite | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 seized | conj |
| 42 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 smote | obj |
| 43 | after | after | ADP | _ | 44 man | case |
| 44 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 smote | obl |
| 45 | to | to | ADP | _ | 47 ground | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 ground | det |
| 47 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 smote | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 deal | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deal | past · do-support | a Many blow | to the enemy; with blow's mighty spear; blow nsubj | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with spear=Theme | ||||
| 2 | shiver | past · passive | the spear | blow's hand | fifteen warriors obl | tree rules | |||
| 3 | have | gerund | fifteen warriors not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | fall | participle | fifteen warriors not said here | spear | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before it=Location | ||||
| 5 | seize | past | blow | blow's good sword | then | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | |||
| 6 | smite | past | blow not said here | man | after man | to the ground result | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent man=Patient to ground=Result |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/31/40/