Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners, sentence 45
Nor were Roland and his comrades slow to do the King's bidding, for they spurred their horses, and pursued after the enemy, seeking if by any means they might deliver the prisoners.
Who acts: Nor, men, King · What happens: be, do, spur, pursue, seek, mean · To what, where: Roland, bidding, horses, prisoners · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nor, men, King), 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 | Nor | Nor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 spurred | nsubj |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 Roland | cop |
| 3 | Roland | Roland | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Nor | conj |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 6 comrades | cc |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 comrades | nmod:poss |
| 6 | comrades | comrade | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Nor | conj |
| 7 | slow | slow | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 comrades | amod |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 do | mark |
| 9 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 slow | xcomp |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 King | det |
| 11 | King | King | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 bidding | nmod:poss |
| 12 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 11 King | case |
| 13 | bidding | bidding | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 do | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 spurred | punct |
| 15 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 17 spurred | mark |
| 16 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 spurred | nsubj |
| 17 | spurred | spur | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 18 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 horses | nmod:poss |
| 19 | horses | horse | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 spurred | obj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 pursued | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 pursued | cc |
| 22 | pursued | pursue | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 spurred | conj |
| 23 | after | after | ADP | _ | 25 enemy | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 enemy | det |
| 25 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 pursued | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 seeking | punct |
| 27 | seeking | seek | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 22 pursued | advcl |
| 28 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 31 means | mark |
| 29 | by | by | ADP | _ | 30 any | case |
| 30 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 31 means | obl |
| 31 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 27 seeking | ccomp |
| 32 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 deliver | nsubj |
| 33 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 deliver | aux |
| 34 | deliver | deliver | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 means | ccomp |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 prisoners | det |
| 36 | prisoners | prisoner | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 deliver | obj |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 17 spurred | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades not said here | Roland | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | do | to-infinitive | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades not said here | the King's bidding | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bidding=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | spur | past | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades | men's horses | men = man nsubj | vn stimulate-59.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Patient | |||
| 4 | pursue | participle | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades not said here | after the enemy | vn chase-51.6 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent after enemy=Theme | ||||
| 5 | seek | gerund | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | mean a condition, not said to happen | present | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades not said here | by any | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 7 | deliver | might | men = man | the prisoners | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prisoner=Patient | ||||
| 8 | bid | the King | nom bidding «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg75339/18/45/