---
title: Roland wondered much what the King might mean, for it seemed a stran… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Roland wondered much what the King might mean, for it seemed a strange thing that on the very day of Yuletide, when a man should rest, he should be sent on such an errand. Who acts: Roland, King, it, strange thing. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John 
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Ralph Went to Court, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Roland wondered much what the King might mean, for it seemed a strange thing that on the very day of Yuletide, when a man should rest, he should be sent on such an errand.

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**Who acts:** Roland, King, it, strange thing · **What happens:** wonder, mean, seem, rest, send · **To what, where:** strange thing, Roland, errand

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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 (Roland, King, it, strange thing), 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:pg75339:15:9
# text = Roland wondered much what the King might mean, for it seemed a strange thing that on the very day of Yuletide, when a man should rest, he should be sent on such an errand.
1	Roland	Roland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	much	much	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	obj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	very	very	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Yuletide	Yuletide	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	rest	rest	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	37	det:predet	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | Roland |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | might | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **seem** | past | it | a strange thing |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thing=Attribute |
| 4 | **rest** | should | a strange thing |  |  |  | day | a man *nsubj* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **send** | should · passive |  | Roland |  | such errand |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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