Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 84
They ate and drank of such victuals as they had, and never a man of them wavered as it drew nigh to the dawning; they were fain to do great deeds; each looked to his armour as one who will fight for his life, and gave his steed a feed of corn.
Who acts: knights, man, castle, each · What happens: eat, drink, have, not waver, draw, be · To what, where: dawning, great deeds, steed
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, man, castle, each), 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 | 2 ate | nsubj |
| 2 | ate | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 4 drank | cc |
| 4 | drank | drink | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 ate | conj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 victuals | case |
| 6 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 victuals | amod |
| 7 | victuals | victual | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 drank | obl |
| 8 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 10 had | mark |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 had | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 drank | advcl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 wavered | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 wavered | cc |
| 13 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 18 wavered | advmod |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 man | det |
| 15 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 wavered | nsubj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 them | case |
| 17 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 man | nmod |
| 18 | wavered | waver | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 ate | conj |
| 19 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 21 drew | mark |
| 20 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 drew | nsubj |
| 21 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 wavered | advcl |
| 22 | nigh | nigh | ADV | _ | 21 drew | advmod |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 25 dawning | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 dawning | det |
| 25 | dawning | dawning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 drew | obl |
| 26 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 29 fain | punct |
| 27 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 fain | nsubj |
| 28 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 fain | cop |
| 29 | fain | fain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 ate | conj |
| 30 | to | to | PART | _ | 31 do | mark |
| 31 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 fain | xcomp |
| 32 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 deeds | amod |
| 33 | deeds | deed | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 do | obj |
| 34 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 36 looked | punct |
| 35 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 36 looked | nsubj |
| 36 | looked | look | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 ate | parataxis |
| 37 | to | to | ADP | _ | 39 armour | case |
| 38 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 armour | nmod:poss |
| 39 | armour | armour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 looked | obl |
| 40 | as | as | ADP | _ | 41 one | case |
| 41 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 36 looked | obl |
| 42 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 44 fight | nsubj |
| 43 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 44 fight | aux |
| 44 | fight | fight | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 one | acl:relcl |
| 45 | for | for | ADP | _ | 47 life | case |
| 46 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 47 life | nmod:poss |
| 47 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 fight | obl |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 gave | punct |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 gave | cc |
| 50 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 looked | conj |
| 51 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 52 steed | nmod:poss |
| 52 | steed | steed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 gave | obj |
| 53 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 54 feed | det |
| 54 | feed | feed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 gave | obj |
| 55 | of | of | ADP | _ | 56 corn | case |
| 56 | corn | corn | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 feed | nmod |
| 57 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 ate | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | eat | past | knights = knight | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | drink | past | knights = knight not said here | of such victuals | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent of victual=Source | ||||
| 3 | have | past | knights = knight | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | not waver | past | a man of knights | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 5 | draw | past | castle | the dawning | nigh property | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to dawning=Destination | |||
| 6 | is | past | knights = knight | fain property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | do | to-infinitive | knights = knight not said here | great deeds | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deed=Eventuality | ||||
| 8 | look | past | each | to man's armour; as one | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to armour=Theme | ||||
| 9 | fight | future | for man's life; who nsubj | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 10 | give | past | each not said here | man's steed | a feed of corn obj | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent steed=Recipient feed=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/pg8447/11/84/