---
title: They seemed to Ralph to lack courtesy; nevertheless he would not cea… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: They seemed to Ralph to lack courtesy; nevertheless he would not cease from his quest, nor was there any one of whom he failed to inquire. Who acts: needs, Ralph. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ralph Went to Court, with its dependency
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ralph Went to Court, sentence 53

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They seemed to Ralph to lack courtesy; nevertheless he would not cease from his quest, nor was there any one of whom he failed to inquire.

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**Who acts:** needs, Ralph · **What happens:** seem, lack, not cease, be, fail, not inquire · **To what, where:** Ralph, courtesy, quest, one

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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 (needs, Ralph), 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:pg75339:15:53
# text = They seemed to Ralph to lack courtesy; nevertheless he would not cease from his quest, nor was there any one of whom he failed to inquire.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	csubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	Ralph	Ralph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	lack	lack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
7	courtesy	courtesy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	nevertheless	nevertheless	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	cease	cease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	quest	quest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	19	cc	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
21	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	inquire	inquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | needs *= need* | Ralph |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **lack** | to-infinitive | needs *= need* *not said here* | courtesy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **cease** | would | Ralph |  |  | Ralph's quest |  | nevertheless *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | any one |  |  |  | whom *nmod* | tree rules |
| 5 | **fail** | past | Ralph |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **inquire** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Ralph *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **quest** |  | Ralph |  |  |  |  |  | nom quest «cognition intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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