---
title: For a long time he saw nothing either far or near; but a little past… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: For a long time he saw nothing either far or near; but a little past midday he saw the Charcoal-burner come driving his mare before him with two panniers filled with coals. Who acts: man, little past midday. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church,
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ralph Went to Court, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For a long time he saw nothing either far or near; but a little past midday he saw the Charcoal-burner come driving his mare before him with two panniers filled with coals.

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**Who acts:** man, little past midday · **What happens:** see, come, drive, fill · **To what, where:** nothing, Charcoal burner, mare, two panniers

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ralph Went to Court. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, little past midday), 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:pg75339:15:11
# text = For a long time he saw nothing either far or near; but a little past midday he saw the Charcoal-burner come driving his mare before him with two panniers filled with coals.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	obj	_	_
8	either	either	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
9	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	near	near	ADV	RB	_	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	past	past	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	midday	midday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	Charcoal	Charcoal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	burner	burner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
25	driving	drive	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	xcomp	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	mare	mare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	before	before	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	panniers	pannier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
33	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	acl	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	coals	coal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | man | nothing |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** | past | man | the Charcoal burner |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer burner=Stimulus |
| 3 | **come** | present | a little past midday |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **drive** | gerund | a little past midday *not said here* | man's mare |  |  | before man | with two panniers | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent mare=Theme before he=Destination |
| 5 | **fill** | participle |  | two panniers *not said here* |  |  |  | with coals | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with coal=Instrument |

<!-- .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:** «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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