Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 15
That false and cruel knight had fain ridden thence, but Sir Gawain was so nigh to him that he could not avoid, and smote at him so fiercely that he must needs abide, and draw bridle, and pray for mercy.
Who acts: false knight, Sir · What happens: have, ride, be, not avoid, smote, abide · To what, where: traitor, bridle
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (false knight, Sir), 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 | That | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 5 knight | det |
| 2 | false | false | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 knight | amod |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 4 cruel | cc |
| 4 | cruel | cruel | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 false | conj |
| 5 | knight | knight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 had | nsubj |
| 6 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 7 | fain | fain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 had | xcomp |
| 8 | ridden | ride | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 fain | acl |
| 9 | thence | thence | ADV | _ | 8 ridden | advmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 smote | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 26 smote | cc |
| 12 | Sir | Sir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 nigh | nsubj |
| 13 | Gawain | Gawain | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 Sir | flat |
| 14 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 nigh | cop |
| 15 | so | so | ADV | _ | 16 nigh | advmod |
| 16 | nigh | nigh | ADV | _ | 26 smote | advmod |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 18 him | case |
| 18 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 nigh | obl |
| 19 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 23 avoid | mark |
| 20 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 avoid | nsubj |
| 21 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 avoid | aux |
| 22 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 23 avoid | advmod |
| 23 | avoid | avoid | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 smote | csubj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 smote | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 smote | cc |
| 26 | smote | smote | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 had | parataxis |
| 27 | at | at | ADP | _ | 28 him | case |
| 28 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 smote | obl |
| 29 | so | so | ADV | _ | 30 fiercely | advmod |
| 30 | fiercely | fiercely | ADV | _ | 26 smote | advmod |
| 31 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 abide | mark |
| 32 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 abide | nsubj |
| 33 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 abide | aux |
| 34 | needs | need | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 abide | nsubj |
| 35 | abide | abide | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 fiercely | advcl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 draw | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 draw | cc |
| 38 | draw | draw | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 26 smote | conj |
| 39 | bridle | bridle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 draw | obj |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 pray | punct |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 pray | cc |
| 42 | pray | pray | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 6 had | conj |
| 43 | for | for | ADP | _ | 44 mercy | case |
| 44 | mercy | mercy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 pray | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 had | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past | that false knight | fain property | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | ride | participle | thence property | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | is | past | Sir | traitor | nigh property | tree rules | |||
| 4 | not avoid | could | Sir | vn avoid-52 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | smote | infinitive | at Sir; fiercely property | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | abide | must | Sir | needs nsubj | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | draw | infinitive | bridle | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridle=Theme | |||||
| 8 | pray | present | that false knight not said here | for mercy | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for mercy=Theme |
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/pg8447/11/15/