Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 2, sentence 87
Had they not heard him call upon God no man had dared face him, deeming that he was the devil or one of his fellows out of hell, for that his steed was so great, and he was taller even than Sir Lancelot, and black withal, as I said afore.
Who acts: devil, Sir, man, steed, I · What happens: not hear, call, dare, deem, be, say · To what, where: Sir, face, devil · 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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (devil, Sir, man, steed), 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 | Had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 heard | aux |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 heard | nsubj |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 4 heard | advmod |
| 4 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 heard | obj |
| 6 | call | call | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 heard | xcomp |
| 7 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 8 God | case |
| 8 | God | God | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 call | obl |
| 9 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 10 man | det |
| 10 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 dared | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 dared | aux |
| 12 | dared | dare | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 call | advcl |
| 13 | face | face | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 dared | xcomp |
| 14 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 face | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 deeming | punct |
| 16 | deeming | deem | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 call | advcl |
| 17 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 21 devil | mark |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 devil | nsubj |
| 19 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 devil | cop |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 devil | det |
| 21 | devil | devil | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 deeming | ccomp |
| 22 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 23 one | cc |
| 23 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 21 devil | conj |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 fellows | case |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 fellows | nmod:poss |
| 26 | fellows | fellow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 one | nmod |
| 27 | out | out | ADP | _ | 29 hell | case |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 hell | case |
| 29 | hell | hell | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 fellows | nmod |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 great | punct |
| 31 | for | for | ADP | _ | 37 great | case |
| 32 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 31 for | fixed |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 steed | nmod:poss |
| 34 | steed | steed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 great | nsubj |
| 35 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 great | cop |
| 36 | so | so | ADV | _ | 37 great | advmod |
| 37 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 call | parataxis |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 taller | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 taller | cc |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 taller | nsubj |
| 41 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 taller | cop |
| 42 | taller | tall | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 4 heard | parataxis |
| 43 | even | even | ADV | _ | 46 Lancelot | advmod |
| 44 | than | than | ADP | _ | 46 Lancelot | case |
| 45 | Sir | Sir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 46 Lancelot | nmod:desc |
| 46 | Lancelot | Lancelot | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 taller | obl |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 withal | punct |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 withal | cc |
| 49 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 withal | amod |
| 50 | withal | withal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 heard | parataxis |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 said | punct |
| 52 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 54 said | mark |
| 53 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 54 said | nsubj |
| 54 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 50 withal | conj |
| 55 | afore | afore | ADV | _ | 54 said | advmod |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 heard | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not hear | past | devil | Sir | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | call speech: assert | infinitive | Sir not said here | upon God | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | dare | past · perfect | no man | face Sir | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | deem | gerund | Sir not said here | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is a | past | Sir | the devil | one of Sir's fellows out hell conj | tree rules | |||
| 6 | is | past | Sir's steed | great property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | is | past | Sir | than Lancelot Sir; tall property | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | say speech: assert | past | I | afore property | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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/pg8447/2/87/