Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 52
They might well have held the castle for a year to come, so strong is it, and they have within weapons and victuals, and men enough for the defence--it might scarce be taken by force so long as they had food, nor might any man lightly make his way therein.
Who acts: knights, force, man · What happens: hold, come, be, have, take, make · To what, where: knights, castle, it, food, way
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 (knights, force, man), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 held | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 held | aux |
| 3 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 5 held | advmod |
| 4 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 held | aux |
| 5 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 castle | det |
| 7 | castle | castle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 held | obj |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 year | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 year | det |
| 10 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 castle | nmod |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 come | mark |
| 12 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 year | acl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 strong | punct |
| 14 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 strong | advmod |
| 15 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 held | advcl |
| 16 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 it | cop |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 strong | nsubj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 have | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 have | cc |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 have | nsubj |
| 21 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 held | conj |
| 22 | within | within | ADP | _ | 23 weapons | case |
| 23 | weapons | weapon | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 have | obl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 victuals | cc |
| 25 | victuals | victual | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 weapons | conj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 men | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 men | cc |
| 28 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 held | obl |
| 29 | enough | enough | ADV | _ | 28 men | advmod |
| 30 | for | for | ADP | _ | 32 defence | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 defence | det |
| 32 | defence | defence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 held | obl |
| 33 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 38 taken | punct |
| 34 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 taken | aux |
| 36 | scarce | scarce | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 37 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 38 taken | aux:pass |
| 38 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 held | conj |
| 39 | by | by | ADP | _ | 40 force | case |
| 40 | force | force | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 taken | obl |
| 41 | so | so | ADV | _ | 42 long | advmod |
| 42 | long | long | ADV | Degree=Pos | 38 taken | advmod |
| 43 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 45 had | mark |
| 44 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 had | nsubj |
| 45 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 long | advcl |
| 46 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 had | obj |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 make | punct |
| 48 | nor | nor | CCONJ | Polarity=Neg | 53 make | cc |
| 49 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 53 make | aux |
| 50 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 51 man | det |
| 51 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 make | nsubj |
| 52 | lightly | lightly | ADV | _ | 53 make | advmod |
| 53 | make | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 held | parataxis |
| 54 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 55 way | nmod:poss |
| 55 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 make | obj |
| 56 | therein | therein | ADV | _ | 53 make | advmod |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 held | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hold | might · perfect · passive | knights = knight | for the defence; men obl; the castle obj; well property | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme castle=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | come | to-infinitive | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | is a | present | castle | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | have | present | knights = knight | within weapons and victuals | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | take | might · passive | force | it | long property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | |||
| 6 | have | past | knights = knight | food | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient | ||||
| 7 | make | might | any man | man's way | lightly, therein property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Product |
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/pg8447/11/52/