Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 7
Then the monster sprang towards him with gaping jaws, as it were fain to swallow him, and Lancelot watched his chance, and thrust his sword into its mouth, and clave the heart in sunder, and the beast gave a cry so terrible that 'twas heard a good two mile off.
Who acts: monster, it, Lancelot, beast, twas · What happens: spring, gape, be, swallow, watch, give · To what, where: monster, chance, mouth, cry, good two mile
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 (monster, it, Lancelot, beast), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 sprang | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 monster | det |
| 3 | monster | monster | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sprang | nsubj |
| 4 | sprang | spring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 6 him | case |
| 6 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 sprang | obl |
| 7 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 jaws | case |
| 8 | gaping | gape | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 9 jaws | amod |
| 9 | jaws | jaw | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 sprang | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 fain | punct |
| 11 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 14 fain | mark |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 fain | nsubj |
| 13 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 fain | cop |
| 14 | fain | fain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 sprang | conj |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 swallow | mark |
| 16 | swallow | swallow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 fain | xcomp |
| 17 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 swallow | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 watched | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 watched | cc |
| 20 | Lancelot | Lancelot | PROPN | Number=Sing | 21 watched | nsubj |
| 21 | watched | watch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 sprang | conj |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 chance | nmod:poss |
| 23 | chance | chance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 watched | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 thrust | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 thrust | cc |
| 26 | thrust | thrust | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 watched | conj |
| 27 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 sword | nmod:poss |
| 28 | sword | sword | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 thrust | obj |
| 29 | into | into | ADP | _ | 31 mouth | case |
| 30 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 mouth | nmod:poss |
| 31 | mouth | mouth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 watched | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 heart | punct |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 heart | cc |
| 34 | clave | clave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 heart | compound |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 heart | det |
| 36 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 sprang | parataxis |
| 37 | in | in | ADP | _ | 38 sunder | case |
| 38 | sunder | sunder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 heart | nmod |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 gave | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 gave | cc |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 beast | det |
| 42 | beast | beast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 gave | nsubj |
| 43 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 sprang | conj |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 45 cry | det |
| 45 | cry | cry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 gave | obj |
| 46 | so | so | ADV | _ | 47 terrible | advmod |
| 47 | terrible | terrible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 gave | advcl |
| 48 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 51 heard | mark |
| 49 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 50 twas | punct |
| 50 | twas | twa | NOUN | Number=Plur | 51 heard | nsubj |
| 51 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 47 terrible | advcl |
| 52 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 55 mile | det |
| 53 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 55 mile | amod |
| 54 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 55 mile | nummod |
| 55 | mile | mile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 51 heard | obj |
| 56 | off | off | ADP | _ | 51 heard | compound:prt |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 sprang | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | spring | past | the monster | then | towards Sir; with gaping jaws; the clave heart in sunder parataxis | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards he=Destination | |||
| 2 | gape | gerund | vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | is | past | it | fain property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | swallow | to-infinitive | monster | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | |||||
| 5 | watch | past | Lancelot | monster's chance | beast's mouth | thrust monster's sword conj | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chance=Theme | ||
| 6 | give | past | the beast | a cry | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cry=Theme | ||||
| 7 | hear off | past | twas | a good two mile | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer mile=Stimulus | ||||
| 8 | chance | monster | nom chance «state intransitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg8447/11/7/