Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the Treachery of King John, sentence 71
Now the plain of Vancouleurs was a solitary place, where four ways met, with forests on every side, in which forests, by command of the King, many hundreds of knights lay in ambush, ready to issue forth and fall upon the brethren.
Who acts: plain, four ways, many hundreds · What happens: be, meet, lay, fall, command · To what, where: solitary place, forests, side, ambush, brethren, King · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (plain, four ways, many hundreds), 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 | Now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 plain | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 plain | det |
| 3 | plain | plain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 place | nsubj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 Vancouleurs | case |
| 5 | Vancouleurs | Vancouleur | PROPN | Number=Plur | 3 plain | nmod |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 place | cop |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 place | det |
| 8 | solitary | solitary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 place | amod |
| 9 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 met | punct |
| 11 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 14 met | advmod |
| 12 | four | four | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 ways | nummod |
| 13 | ways | way | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 met | nsubj |
| 14 | met | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 place | conj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 forests | punct |
| 16 | with | with | ADP | _ | 17 forests | case |
| 17 | forests | forest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 met | obj |
| 18 | on | on | ADP | _ | 20 side | case |
| 19 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 20 side | det |
| 20 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 forests | nmod |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 forests | punct |
| 22 | in | in | ADP | _ | 24 forests | case |
| 23 | which | which | DET | PronType=Int | 24 forests | det |
| 24 | forests | forest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 met | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 command | punct |
| 26 | by | by | ADP | _ | 27 command | case |
| 27 | command | command | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 forests | appos |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 King | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 King | det |
| 30 | King | King | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 command | nmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 hundreds | punct |
| 32 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 hundreds | amod |
| 33 | hundreds | hundred | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 lay | nsubj |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 35 knights | case |
| 35 | knights | knight | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 hundreds | nmod |
| 36 | lay | lay | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 place | parataxis |
| 37 | in | in | ADP | _ | 38 ambush | case |
| 38 | ambush | ambush | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 lay | obl |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 ready | punct |
| 40 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 lay | advcl |
| 41 | to | to | PART | _ | 42 issue | mark |
| 42 | issue | issue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 ready | xcomp |
| 43 | forth | forth | ADV | _ | 40 ready | advmod |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 fall | cc |
| 45 | fall | fall | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 lay | conj |
| 46 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 48 brethren | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 brethren | det |
| 48 | brethren | brethren | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 fall | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 place | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the plain of Vancouleurs | a solitary place | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | meet | past | four ways | forests | every side | in which forests | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Co-Agent | ||
| 3 | lay | present | many hundreds of knights | ambush | vn put_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in ambush=Destination | ||||
| 4 | fall | infinitive | many hundreds of knights not said here | the brethren | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon brethren=Location | ||||
| 5 | command | the King | nom command «communication transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg75339/7/71/