---
title: After the Duke had ridden awhile, the road being very steep, for it… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: After the Duke had ridden awhile, the road being very steep, for it was on the side of a mountain, his horse was sorely spent, and he was constrained to halt. Who acts: Duke, road. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Richard of Normandy, wi
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of Richard of Normandy, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After the Duke had ridden awhile, the road being very steep, for it was on the side of a mountain, his horse was sorely spent, and he was constrained to halt.

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**Who acts:** Duke, road · **What happens:** ride, be, spend, constrain, halt · **To what, where:** horse, Duke

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This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Of Richard of Normandy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Duke, road), 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:pg75339:24:29
# text = After the Duke had ridden awhile, the road being very steep, for it was on the side of a mountain, his horse was sorely spent, and he was constrained to halt.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Duke	Duke	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	ridden	ride	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
6	awhile	awhile	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	cop	_	_
11	very	very	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	sorely	sorely	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	constrained	constrain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	conj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	halt	halt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | past · perfect | the Duke |  |  |  |  | awhile *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | gerund | the road |  |  |  |  | steep *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | road |  |  |  |  | for the side; of a mountain | tree rules |
| 4 | **spend** | past · passive |  | Duke's horse |  |  |  | sorely *property* | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: horse=Asset |
| 5 | **constrain** | past · passive |  | Duke |  |  |  |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Goal |
| 6 | **halt** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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