---
title: So fierce was the wind and so heavy the rain, that they were scatter… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: So fierce was the wind and so heavy the rain, that they were scattered over the country, nor could they tell, the day being well nigh as dark as night, whither they were going. Who acts: wind. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ralph Ente
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ralph Entertained the King, sentence 3

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So fierce was the wind and so heavy the rain, that they were scattered over the country, nor could they tell, the day being well nigh as dark as night, whither they were going.

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**Who acts:** wind · **What happens:** be, scatter, tell, go · **To what, where:** fierce wind, wind, country · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

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

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75339:14:3
# text = So fierce was the wind and so heavy the rain, that they were scattered over the country, nor could they tell, the day being well nigh as dark as night, whither they were going.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
27	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	cop	_	_
28	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
29	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
32	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	whither	whither	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	38	advmod	_	_
36	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the fierce wind and the heavy rain and the day |  |  |  | the heavy rain *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **scatter** | past · passive |  | wind |  | the country |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme over country=Destination |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | wind |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  | night | dark, nigh, well *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | past · progressive | wind |  |  |  |  | whither *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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:** «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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