Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 9, sentence 37
But this he would not do, howsoe'er he prayed him, but said he must first seek Sir Lancelot, and learn if harm had befallen him.
Who acts: this, Sir · What happens: not do, pray, say, seek, learn, befall · To what, where: howsoe'er, Gawain, Sir, harm · 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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, Sir), 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 | _ | 6 do | cc |
| 2 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 do | nsubj:outer |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 do | nsubj |
| 4 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 6 do | aux |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 do | advmod |
| 6 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 howsoe'er | punct |
| 8 | howsoe'er | howsoe'er | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 do | obj |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 prayed | nsubj |
| 10 | prayed | pray | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 howsoe'er | acl:relcl |
| 11 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 prayed | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 said | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 said | cc |
| 14 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 do | conj |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 seek | nsubj |
| 16 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 seek | aux |
| 17 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 18 seek | advmod |
| 18 | seek | seek | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 said | ccomp |
| 19 | Sir | Sir | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 seek | obj |
| 20 | Lancelot | Lancelot | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 Sir | flat |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 learn | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 learn | cc |
| 23 | learn | learn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 seek | conj |
| 24 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 27 befallen | mark |
| 25 | harm | harm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 befallen | nsubj:pass |
| 26 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 befallen | aux |
| 27 | befallen | befall | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 learn | ccomp |
| 28 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 befallen | obj |
| 29 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 do | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not do | would | this | howsoe'er | Sir nsubj | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent howsoe'er=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | pray | past | Sir | Gawain | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | this not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | seek | must | Sir | Sir | first property | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sir=Theme | |||
| 5 | learn | infinitive | Sir not said here | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | befall a condition, not said to happen | past · perfect · passive | harm | Sir obj | 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/pg8447/9/37/