Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 2, sentence 83
Sir Gawain drew on one side, since the twain would fight, and thought in himself, as was right and courteous, that it were folly, and the custom of no good knight, for twain to fall on one man, since life stood not at stake. '
Who acts: Sir, twain, life · What happens: draw, fight, think, be, fall, not stand · To what, where: one side, stake
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sir, twain, life), 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 | Sir | Sir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 drew | nsubj |
| 2 | Gawain | Gawain | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Sir | flat |
| 3 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | on | on | ADP | _ | 6 side | case |
| 5 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 6 side | nummod |
| 6 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 drew | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 fight | punct |
| 8 | since | since | SCONJ | _ | 12 fight | mark |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 twain | det |
| 10 | twain | twain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 fight | nsubj |
| 11 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 fight | aux |
| 12 | fight | fight | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 drew | conj |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 thought | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 thought | cc |
| 15 | thought | think | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 fight | conj |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 17 himself | case |
| 17 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 15 thought | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 right | punct |
| 19 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 21 right | mark |
| 20 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 right | cop |
| 21 | right | right | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 thought | conj |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 courteous | cc |
| 23 | courteous | courteous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 right | conj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 folly | punct |
| 25 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 28 folly | mark |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 folly | nsubj |
| 27 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 folly | cop |
| 28 | folly | folly | ADV | _ | 21 right | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 custom | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 custom | cc |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 custom | det |
| 32 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 folly | appos |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 knight | case |
| 34 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 36 knight | det |
| 35 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 knight | amod |
| 36 | knight | knight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 custom | nmod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 twain | punct |
| 38 | for | for | ADP | _ | 39 twain | case |
| 39 | twain | twain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 custom | conj |
| 40 | to | to | PART | _ | 41 fall | mark |
| 41 | fall | fall | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 39 twain | acl |
| 42 | on | on | ADP | _ | 44 man | case |
| 43 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 44 man | nummod |
| 44 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 fall | obl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 stood | punct |
| 46 | since | since | SCONJ | _ | 48 stood | mark |
| 47 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 stood | nsubj |
| 48 | stood | stand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 fall | conj |
| 49 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 48 stood | advmod |
| 50 | at | at | ADP | _ | 51 stake | case |
| 51 | stake | stake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 stood | obl |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 fight | punct |
| 53 | ' | ' | PUNCT | _ | 12 fight | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draw | past | Sir | one side | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on side=Destination | ||||
| 2 | fight | would | the twain | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | think speech: other | participle | the twain not said here | in Sir | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | is | past | the twain not said here | right property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | be | the twain not said here | tree rules | ||||||
| 6 | is | past | twain | the custom of no good knight and twain appos; folly property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | fall | to-infinitive | twain not said here | on one man | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on man=Location | ||||
| 8 | not stand | past | life | stake | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at stake=Location |
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/pg8447/2/83/