Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 6, sentence 52
Or if they took him captive they might deal with him as they thought best, either by burning him in the fire, to cool their rage, or by breaking him upon the wheel--as might seem best to them at the time. "
Who acts: friends · What happens: take, deal, think, burn, cool, break · To what, where: tale, fire, rage, best
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friends), 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 | Or | or | CCONJ | _ | 9 deal | cc |
| 2 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 4 took | mark |
| 3 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 took | nsubj |
| 4 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 deal | advcl |
| 5 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 took | obj |
| 6 | captive | captive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 took | xcomp |
| 7 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 deal | nsubj |
| 8 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 9 deal | aux |
| 9 | deal | deal | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 10 | with | with | ADP | _ | 11 him | case |
| 11 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 deal | obl |
| 12 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 14 thought | mark |
| 13 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 thought | nsubj |
| 14 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 deal | advcl |
| 15 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 14 thought | ccomp |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 burning | punct |
| 17 | either | either | CCONJ | _ | 19 burning | cc:preconj |
| 18 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 19 burning | mark |
| 19 | burning | burn | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 14 thought | advcl |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 burning | obj |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 fire | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 fire | det |
| 23 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 burning | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 cool | punct |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 cool | mark |
| 26 | cool | cool | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 burning | conj |
| 27 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 rage | nmod:poss |
| 28 | rage | rage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 cool | obj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 breaking | punct |
| 30 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 32 breaking | cc |
| 31 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 32 breaking | mark |
| 32 | breaking | break | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 deal | advcl |
| 33 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 breaking | obj |
| 34 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 36 wheel | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 wheel | det |
| 36 | wheel | wheel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 breaking | obl |
| 37 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 40 seem | punct |
| 38 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 40 seem | mark |
| 39 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 seem | aux |
| 40 | seem | seem | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 deal | conj |
| 41 | best | good | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 40 seem | obj |
| 42 | to | to | ADP | _ | 43 them | case |
| 43 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 best | nmod |
| 44 | at | at | ADP | _ | 46 time | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 time | det |
| 46 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 seem | obl |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 deal | punct |
| 48 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 deal | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take a condition, not said to happen | past | friends = friend | tale | captive property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination | |||
| 2 | deal | might | friends = friend | with tale | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with he=Theme | ||||
| 3 | think speech: other | past | friends = friend | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | burn | gerund | friends = friend not said here | tale | the fire | tree rules | |||
| 5 | cool | to-infinitive | friends = friend not said here | friends's rage | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rage=Patient | ||||
| 6 | break | gerund | friends = friend not said here | tale | upon the wheel | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient | |||
| 7 | seem | might | friends = friend not said here | best | time | to friends = friend | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme good=Attribute | ||
| 8 | rage | friends = friend | nom rage «feeling 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/pg8447/6/52/