Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 4, sentence 52
But 'twas labour lost; not for all the riches that belonged to King Arthur would he have taken back his word and his covenant, for any prayer that might be made him, nor have yielded aught through fear.
Who acts: riches, Arthur · What happens: lose, belong, take back, make, yield, word · To what, where: twas labour, King Arthur, prayer, aught, fear
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (riches, Arthur), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 taken | cc |
| 2 | ' | 's | PART | _ | 1 But | case |
| 3 | twas | twa | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 labour | compound |
| 4 | labour | labour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 5 | lost | lose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 labour | acl |
| 6 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 11 riches | punct |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 riches | advmod |
| 8 | for | for | ADP | _ | 11 riches | case |
| 9 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 11 riches | det:predet |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 riches | det |
| 11 | riches | rich | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 lost | obl |
| 12 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 13 belonged | nsubj |
| 13 | belonged | belong | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 riches | acl:relcl |
| 14 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 Arthur | case |
| 15 | King | King | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 Arthur | compound |
| 16 | Arthur | Arthur | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 belonged | obl |
| 17 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 taken | aux |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 taken | nsubj |
| 19 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 20 taken | aux |
| 20 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 21 | back | back | ADV | _ | 20 taken | advmod |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 word | nmod:poss |
| 23 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 taken | obj |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 covenant | cc |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 covenant | nmod:poss |
| 26 | covenant | covenant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 word | conj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 prayer | punct |
| 28 | for | for | ADP | _ | 30 prayer | case |
| 29 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 30 prayer | det |
| 30 | prayer | prayer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 word | appos |
| 31 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 34 made | obl |
| 32 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 made | aux |
| 33 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 34 made | aux:pass |
| 34 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 prayer | acl:relcl |
| 35 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 made | obj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 yielded | punct |
| 37 | nor | nor | CCONJ | Polarity=Neg | 39 yielded | cc |
| 38 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 39 yielded | aux |
| 39 | yielded | yield | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 taken | conj |
| 40 | aught | aught | PRON | PronType=Ind | 39 yielded | obj |
| 41 | through | through | ADP | _ | 42 fear | case |
| 42 | fear | fear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 yielded | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 20 taken | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | lose | participle | twas labour not said here | for all riches | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | belong | past | all riches | King Arthur | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | take back | would · perfect · passive | twas labour | Arthur nsubj; Arthur's word and Arthur's covenant obj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme word=Destination | ||||
| 4 | make | might · passive | any prayer | Arthur obj | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: he=Product | ||||
| 5 | yield | present · perfect | aught | fear | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent aught=Theme | ||||
| 6 | word | Arthur | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 7 | covenant | Arthur | nom covenant «communication 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/pg8447/4/52/