---
title: Now the plain of Vancouleurs was a solitary place, where four ways m… — Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of F… · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the plain of Vancouleurs was a solitary place, where four ways met, with forests on every side, in which forests, by command of the King, many hundreds of knights lay in ambush, ready to issue forth and fall upon the brethren. Who acts: plain, four ways, many hundreds. A sentence of «Stories of 
---

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# Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, Of the Treachery of King John, sentence 71

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Now the plain of Vancouleurs was a solitary place, where four ways met, with forests on every side, in which forests, by command of the King, many hundreds of knights lay in ambush, ready to issue forth and fall upon the brethren.

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**Who acts:** plain, four ways, many hundreds · **What happens:** be, meet, lay, fall, command · **To what, where:** solitary place, forests, side, ambush, brethren, King · **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, Of the Treachery of King John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (plain, four ways, many hundreds), 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:pg75339:7:71
# text = Now the plain of Vancouleurs was a solitary place, where four ways met, with forests on every side, in which forests, by command of the King, many hundreds of knights lay in ambush, ready to issue forth and fall upon the brethren.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Vancouleurs	Vancouleur	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	solitary	solitary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	14	advmod	_	_
12	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	24	det	_	_
24	forests	forest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	appos	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	_
36	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	ambush	ambush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	advcl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	issue	issue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	xcomp	_	_
43	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
46	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the plain of Vancouleurs | a solitary place |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | past | four ways | forests |  | every side |  | in which forests | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forest=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **lay** | present | many hundreds of knights |  |  | ambush |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in ambush=Destination |
| 4 | **fall** | infinitive | many hundreds of knights *not said here* |  |  | the brethren |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon brethren=Location |
| 5 | **command** |  |  | the King |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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