--- title: Nor were Roland and his comrades slow to do the King's bidding, for… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics description: Nor were Roland and his comrades slow to do the King's bidding, for they spurred their horses, and pursued after the enemy, seeking if by any means they might deliver the prisoners. Who acts: Nor, men, King. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/45/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/) / [How Oliver and Others Were Taken Priso…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/) / 45 # Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners, sentence 45 Nor were Roland and his comrades slow to do the King's bidding, for they spurred their horses, and pursued after the enemy, seeking if by any means they might deliver the prisoners. **Who acts:** Nor, men, King · **What happens:** be, do, spur, pursue, seek, mean · **To what, where:** Roland, bidding, horses, prisoners · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nor, men, King), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75339:18:45 # text = Nor were Roland and his comrades slow to do the King's bidding, for they spurred their horses, and pursued after the enemy, seeking if by any means they might deliver the prisoners. 1 Nor Nor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 cop _ _ 3 Roland Roland PROPN NNP Number=Sing 1 conj _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 comrades comrade NOUN NNS Number=Plur 1 conj _ _ 7 slow slow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 xcomp _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 12 's 's PART POS _ 11 case _ _ 13 bidding bidding NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 for for SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 16 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 spurred spur VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 18 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 horses horse NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 pursued pursue VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 conj _ _ 23 after after ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 enemy enemy NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 27 seeking seek VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 advcl _ _ 28 if if SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 29 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 31 obl _ _ 31 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 ccomp _ _ 32 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 deliver deliver VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 ccomp _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 prisoners prisoner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 . . PUNCT . _ 17 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades *not said here* | Roland | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades *not said here* | the King's bidding | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bidding=Eventuality | | 3 | **spur** | past | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades | men's horses | | | | men *= man* *nsubj* | vn stimulate-59.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Patient | | 4 | **pursue** | participle | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades *not said here* | | | | after the enemy | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent after enemy=Theme | | 5 | **seek** | gerund | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **mean** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Nor and Roland and Nor's comrades *not said here* | | | | | by any | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **deliver** | might | men *= man* | the prisoners | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prisoner=Patient | | 8 | **bid** | | the King | | | | | | nom bidding «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/44/) - next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/46/) - ↑ back to [How Oliver and Others Were Taken Prisoners](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75339/18/)