Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 54
The king hath sworn an oath that if need be he will besiege the castle seven years, and all they who withstand him, and whom he shall find within at his coming thither, shall lose their lives; this hath he made known to them.
Who acts: King, knights, this · What happens: swear, need, be, withstand, find, come · To what, where: king, lives, knights · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (King, knights, this), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 king | det |
| 2 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sworn | nsubj |
| 3 | hath | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Style=Arch Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 sworn | aux:pass |
| 4 | sworn | swear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 oath | det |
| 6 | oath | oath | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sworn | obj |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 13 besiege | mark |
| 8 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 9 need | mark |
| 9 | need | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 besiege | advcl |
| 10 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 13 besiege | cop |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 besiege | nsubj |
| 12 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 besiege | aux |
| 13 | besiege | besiege | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 sworn | advcl |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 castle | det |
| 15 | castle | castle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 besiege | obj |
| 16 | seven | seven | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 17 years | nummod |
| 17 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 besiege | obl:unmarked |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 withstand | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 withstand | cc |
| 20 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 21 they | reparandum |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 withstand | nsubj |
| 22 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 withstand | nsubj |
| 23 | withstand | withstand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 sworn | parataxis |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 withstand | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 find | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 find | cc |
| 27 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 30 find | obj |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 find | nsubj |
| 29 | shall | shall | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 find | aux |
| 30 | find | find | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 withstand | conj |
| 31 | within | within | ADP | _ | 34 coming | mark |
| 32 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 34 coming | mark |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Gender=Masc Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 coming | nsubj |
| 34 | coming | come | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 30 find | ccomp |
| 35 | thither | thither | ADV | _ | 34 coming | advmod |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 lose | punct |
| 37 | shall | shall | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 lose | aux |
| 38 | lose | lose | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 find | conj |
| 39 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 lives | nmod:poss |
| 40 | lives | life | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 lose | obj |
| 41 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 43 hath | punct |
| 42 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 43 hath | nsubj |
| 43 | hath | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Style=Arch Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 sworn | parataxis |
| 44 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 made | nsubj |
| 45 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 hath | ccomp |
| 46 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 45 made | xcomp |
| 47 | to | to | ADP | _ | 48 them | case |
| 48 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 known | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 sworn | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | swear | present · passive | the king | a oath obj | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme oath=Eventuality | ||||
| 2 | need a condition, not said to happen | present | King not said here | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot | |||||
| 3 | is | future · infinitive | King | year | the castle obj; besiege property | tree rules | |||
| 4 | withstand | present | knights = knight | King | who nsubj | tree rules | |||
| 5 | find | shall | King | whom obj | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent whom=Attribute clause=Theme | ||||
| 6 | come | gerund | King | thither property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | lose | shall | King not said here | knights's lives | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Eventuality | ||||
| 8 | have | present | this | tree rules | |||||
| 9 | make | past | King | tree rules | |||||
| 10 | know | participle | King not said here | knights = knight | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg8447/11/54/