Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 3, sentence 48
Then was the black knight blithe, and drew near to Sir Lancelot, and bared his head, which was black as pitch; that was the fashion of his land--Moors are black as burnt brands.
Who acts: head, that, Moors · What happens: be, draw, bare · To what, where: head, fashion
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head, that, Moors), 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 | 6 blithe | advmod |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 blithe | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 knight | det |
| 4 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 knight | amod |
| 5 | knight | knight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 blithe | obl:unmarked |
| 6 | blithe | blithe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 drew | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 drew | cc |
| 9 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 blithe | parataxis |
| 10 | near | near | ADP | _ | 12 Sir | case |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 12 Sir | case |
| 12 | Sir | Sir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 9 drew | obl |
| 13 | Lancelot | Lancelot | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 Sir | flat |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 bared | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 bared | cc |
| 16 | bared | bare | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 drew | conj |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 head | nmod:poss |
| 18 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 bared | obj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 black | punct |
| 20 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 22 black | nsubj |
| 21 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 black | cop |
| 22 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 head | acl:relcl |
| 23 | as | as | ADP | _ | 24 pitch | case |
| 24 | pitch | pitch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 black | obl |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 29 fashion | punct |
| 26 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 29 fashion | nsubj |
| 27 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 fashion | cop |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 fashion | det |
| 29 | fashion | fashion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 blithe | parataxis |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 land | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 land | nmod:poss |
| 32 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 fashion | nmod |
| 33 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 36 black | punct |
| 34 | Moors | moor | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 black | nsubj |
| 35 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 black | cop |
| 36 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 fashion | parataxis |
| 37 | as | as | ADP | _ | 39 brands | case |
| 38 | burnt | burnt | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 brands | amod |
| 39 | brands | brand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 black | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 blithe | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | then | the black knight obl:unmarked; blithe property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | draw | past | near Sir | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | bare | past | Sir's head | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient | |||||
| 4 | is | past | Sir's head | as pitch; black property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | is a | past | that | the fashion | of Sir's land | tree rules | |||
| 6 | is | present | Moors | as burnt brands; black property | tree rules |
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/pg8447/3/48/