Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 57
His blows were so mighty; did a spear fly towards him, to harm him, it troubled him no whit, but he smote it in twain as it were a reed; naught might endure before him.
Who acts: blows, spear, Sir, naught · What happens: be, fly, harm, trouble, smite, endure · To what, where: Sir, whit, twain
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 (blows, spear, Sir, naught), 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 | His | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 2 blows | nmod:poss |
| 2 | blows | blow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 mighty | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 mighty | cop |
| 4 | so | so | ADV | _ | 5 mighty | advmod |
| 5 | mighty | mighty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 10 fly | punct |
| 7 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 fly | aux |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 spear | det |
| 9 | spear | spear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 fly | nsubj |
| 10 | fly | fly | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 mighty | parataxis |
| 11 | towards | towards | ADP | _ | 12 him | case |
| 12 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 fly | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 harm | punct |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 harm | mark |
| 15 | harm | harm | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 fly | advcl |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 harm | obj |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 troubled | punct |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 troubled | nsubj |
| 19 | troubled | trouble | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 mighty | conj |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 troubled | obj |
| 21 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 22 whit | det |
| 22 | whit | whit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 troubled | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 smote | punct |
| 24 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 26 smote | cc |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 smote | nsubj |
| 26 | smote | smite | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 mighty | parataxis |
| 27 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 smote | obj |
| 28 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 twain | case |
| 29 | twain | twain | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 smote | obl |
| 30 | as | as | ADP | _ | 34 reed | case |
| 31 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 reed | nsubj |
| 32 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 reed | cop |
| 33 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 reed | det |
| 34 | reed | reed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 smote | obl |
| 35 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 38 endure | punct |
| 36 | naught | naught | PRON | PronType=Neg | 38 endure | nsubj |
| 37 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 endure | aux |
| 38 | endure | endure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 smote | conj |
| 39 | before | before | ADP | _ | 40 him | case |
| 40 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 endure | obl |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 mighty | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | Sir's blows | mighty property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | fly | past · do-support | a spear | towards Sir | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards he=Destination | ||||
| 3 | harm | to-infinitive | a spear not said here | Sir | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | trouble | past | spear | Sir | no whit obj | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer whit=Result | |||
| 5 | smite | past | Sir | whit | twain | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer | |||
| 6 | is | past | spear | as a reed | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | endure | might | naught | before Sir | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before he=Location | ||||
| 8 | blow | Sir | nom blow «act 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/pg8447/7/57/