---
title: While they were yet speaking, there came a messenger upon a horse, f… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were yet speaking, there came a messenger upon a horse, faint and weary and sorely wounded, and the King saw him pass the window where he stood. Who acts: things, messenger, King, horse. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Slayi
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Slaying of Lothair, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While they were yet speaking, there came a messenger upon a horse, faint and weary and sorely wounded, and the King saw him pass the window where he stood.

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**Who acts:** things, messenger, King, horse · **What happens:** speak, come, see, pass, stand · **To what, where:** horse, window · **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, The Slaying of Lothair. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (things, messenger, King, horse), 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:pg75339:3:95
# text = While they were yet speaking, there came a messenger upon a horse, faint and weary and sorely wounded, and the King saw him pass the window where he stood.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	weary	weary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	sorely	sorely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	wounded	wounded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | things *= thing* |  |  |  | yet |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **come** | past | a messenger upon a horse |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | the King | horse |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **pass** | infinitive | horse *not said here* | the window |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme window=Trajectory |
| 5 | **stand** | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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