Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 32

He saw the footprints where two horses had ridden afore him, and ever he hoped that 'twas his father who rode there, and that he had crossed the water, but he thought within himself: "What doth it profit a man to labour if he know it to be in vain?

Who acts: Morien, two horses, twas · What happens: see, ride, hope, cross, think, do · To what, where: footprints, water · 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 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Morien, two horses, twas), 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	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 saw	nsubj
2	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 footprints	det
4	footprints	footprint	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 saw	obj
5	where	where	ADV	PronType=Rel	9 ridden	advmod
6	two	two	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	7 horses	nummod
7	horses	horse	NOUN	Number=Plur	9 ridden	nsubj
8	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	9 ridden	aux
9	ridden	ride	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	4 footprints	acl:relcl
10	afore	afore	ADP	_	11 him	case
11	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 ridden	obl
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 hoped	punct
13	and	and	CCONJ	_	16 hoped	cc
14	ever	ever	ADV	PronType=Ind	16 hoped	advmod
15	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	16 hoped	nsubj
16	hoped	hope	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	2 saw	parataxis
17	that	that	SCONJ	_	23 rode	mark
18	'	'	PUNCT	_	19 twas	punct
19	twas	twa	NOUN	Number=Plur	23 rode	nsubj
20	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	21 father	nmod:poss
21	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	19 twas	appos
22	who	who	PRON	PronType=Rel	23 rode	nsubj
23	rode	ride	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	16 hoped	conj
24	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	23 rode	advmod
25	,	,	PUNCT	_	30 crossed	punct
26	and	and	CCONJ	_	30 crossed	cc
27	that	that	SCONJ	_	30 crossed	mark
28	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	30 crossed	nsubj
29	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	30 crossed	aux
30	crossed	cross	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	23 rode	conj
31	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	32 water	det
32	water	water	NOUN	Number=Sing	30 crossed	obj
33	,	,	PUNCT	_	36 thought	punct
34	but	but	CCONJ	_	36 thought	cc
35	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	36 thought	nsubj
36	thought	think	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	23 rode	parataxis
37	within	within	ADP	_	38 himself	case
38	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	36 thought	obl
39	:	:	PUNCT	_	42 doth	punct
40	"	"	PUNCT	_	42 doth	punct
41	What	what	PRON	PronType=Int	42 doth	nsubj
42	doth	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Style=Arch Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	36 thought	conj
43	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	42 doth	obj
44	profit	profit	NOUN	Number=Sing	42 doth	obj
45	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	46 man	det
46	man	man	NOUN	Number=Sing	42 doth	nsubj
47	to	to	PART	_	48 labour	mark
48	labour	labour	NOUN	Number=Sing	46 man	acl
49	if	if	SCONJ	_	51 know	mark
50	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	51 know	nsubj
51	know	know	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	42 doth	advcl
52	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	51 know	obj
53	to	to	PART	_	56 vain	mark
54	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	56 vain	cop
55	in	in	ADP	_	56 vain	case
56	vain	vain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	51 know	advcl
57	?	?	PUNCT	_	2 saw	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	see	past	Morien	the footprints				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer footprint=Stimulus
2	ride	past · perfect	two horses				afore Morien	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
3	hope	past	Morien			ever		vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot
4	ride	past	twas		there		who nsubj	vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent
5	cross	past · perfect	Morien	the water				vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient
6	think speech: other	past	Morien				within Morien	vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
7	do in a quote	present		water			What nsubj; profit obj; a man labour nsubj	tree rules
8	know a condition, not said to happen, in a quote	present	Morien	water				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus
9	is in a quote	to-infinitive	Morien not said here				vain 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/pg8447/7/32/

🌲 Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 32

The tree

Pragmatics

Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 32