Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 1, sentence 67
Lancelot is a much more shadowy personage; if, as suggested above, the original story took shape at a period before he had attained to his full popularity, and references to his valour were added later we can understand this.
Who acts: Lancelot, original story, we · What happens: be, suggest, take, attain, reference, add · To what, where: shadowy personage, shape, period, this
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lancelot, original story, we), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lancelot | lancelot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 personage | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 personage | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 personage | det |
| 4 | much | much | ADV | _ | 5 more | advmod |
| 5 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 6 shadowy | advmod |
| 6 | shadowy | shadowy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 personage | amod |
| 7 | personage | personage | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 8 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 12 suggested | punct |
| 9 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 12 suggested | mark |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 suggested | punct |
| 11 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 12 suggested | mark |
| 12 | suggested | suggest | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 personage | parataxis |
| 13 | above | above | ADV | _ | 12 suggested | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 took | punct |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 story | det |
| 16 | original | original | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 story | amod |
| 17 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 took | nsubj |
| 18 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 suggested | conj |
| 19 | shape | shape | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 took | obj |
| 20 | at | at | ADP | _ | 22 period | case |
| 21 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 period | det |
| 22 | period | period | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 took | obl |
| 23 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 26 attained | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 attained | nsubj |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 attained | aux |
| 26 | attained | attain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 18 took | advcl |
| 27 | to | to | ADP | _ | 30 popularity | case |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 popularity | nmod:poss |
| 29 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 popularity | amod |
| 30 | popularity | popularity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 attained | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 references | punct |
| 32 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 33 references | cc |
| 33 | references | reference | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 personage | parataxis |
| 34 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 valour | case |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 valour | nmod:poss |
| 36 | valour | valour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 added | obl |
| 37 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 added | aux:pass |
| 38 | added | add | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 references | ccomp |
| 39 | later | late | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 38 added | advmod |
| 40 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 42 understand | nsubj |
| 41 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 understand | aux |
| 42 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 38 added | parataxis |
| 43 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 42 understand | obj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 personage | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | Lancelot | a shadowy personage | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | suggest speech: suggest a condition, not said to happen | participle | above property | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | take | past | the original story | shape | a period | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent shape=Theme at period=Asset | |||
| 4 | attain | past · perfect | Lancelot | to Lancelot's full popularity | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | reference | present | tree rules | ||||||
| 6 | add speech: assert | past · passive | to Lancelot's valour; late property | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: to valour=Co-Patient | |||||
| 7 | understand | can | we | this | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
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: «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Project Gutenberg book 8447 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/67/