---
title: When the men were near, the Duke said to them, "Who are you?" — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: When the men were near, the Duke said to them, "Who are you?" Who acts: men, Duke, Naymes. A sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, The Coming of Roland, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, The Coming of Roland, sentence 45

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When the men were near, the Duke said to them, "Who are you?"

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**Who acts:** men, Duke, Naymes · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** Naymes · **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 Coming of Roland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, Duke, Naymes), 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:pg75339:6:45
# text = When the men were near, the Duke said to them, "Who are you?"
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	near	near	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Duke	Duke	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	parataxis	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the men |  |  |  |  | near *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the Duke |  | Naymes |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Naymes |  |  |  |  |  | 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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