---
title: What is this churl," said they, "that he should so misuse the King?" — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: What is this churl," said they, "that he should so misuse the King?" Who acts: lords, man. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Ralph Went to Court, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ralph Went to Court, sentence 78

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What is this churl," said they, "that he should so misuse the King?"

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**Who acts:** lords, man · **What happens:** be, say, misuse · **To what, where:** churl, King · **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 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 (lords, man), 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:pg75339:15:78
# text = What is this churl," said they, "that he should so misuse the King?"
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	churl	churl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	misuse	misuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | this churl |  |  |  | What *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | lords *= lord* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **misuse** | should | man | the King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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