---
title: That this would be the case appears only probable when we recall the… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: That this would be the case appears only probable when we recall the vague and conflicting traditions as to the hero's parentage; it was Perceval himself, and not his father or his mother, who was the important factor in the tale; hence the change in his character was a matter of gradual evolution. 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/58/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered in…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/) / 58

# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 1, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That this would be the case appears only probable when we recall the vague and conflicting traditions as to the hero's parentage; it was Perceval himself, and not his father or his mother, who was the important factor in the tale; hence the change in his character was a matter of gradual evolution.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** this, That, we, tradition, father, character · **What happens:** be, appear, recall, conflict, parent · **To what, where:** case, vague, traditions, important factor, tale, matter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, That, we, tradition), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8447:1:58
# text = That this would be the case appears only probable when we recall the vague and conflicting traditions as to the hero's parentage; it was Perceval himself, and not his father or his mother, who was the important factor in the tale; hence the change in his character was a matter of gradual evolution.
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	appears	appear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	probable	probable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	recall	recall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	vague	vague	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	conflicting	conflict	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	conj	_	_
17	traditions	tradition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	23	case	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	fixed	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	's	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	parentage	parentage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	Perceval	perceval	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
28	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	parataxis	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	factor	factor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	hence	hence	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	gradual	gradual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	evolution	evolution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | this | the case |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **appear** | present | That |  |  |  |  | the change *parataxis*; probable *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **recall** | present | we | the vague |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vague=Theme |
| 4 | **conflict** | gerund | we *not said here* | traditions |  |  |  | as the hero's parentage | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | tradition |  |  |  |  | case *obj*; case's father or father's mother and the important factor *parataxis*; perceval *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | past | case's father or father's mother and the important factor | the important factor |  | the tale |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | past | father's character |  |  | a matter |  | of gradual evolution | tree rules |
| 8 | **parent** |  | the hero |  |  |  |  |  | nom parentage «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/57/)
- next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/59/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/1/)