---
title: A courtier came riding by, and he did ask what they were seeking, an… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A courtier came riding by, and he did ask what they were seeking, and why they were so sorrowful. " Who acts: courtier, men. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 19, sentence 97

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A courtier came riding by, and he did ask what they were seeking, and why they were so sorrowful. "

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**Who acts:** courtier, men · **What happens:** come, ride by, ask, seek, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (courtier, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg14241:33:97
# text = A courtier came riding by, and he did ask what they were seeking, and why they were so sorrowful. "
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	courtier	courtier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	riding	ride	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	sorrowful	sorrowful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a courtier |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ride by** | gerund | a courtier *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · do-support | courtier |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **seek** | past · progressive | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | sorrowful *property* | 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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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