---
title: And he thought within himself that since those steps were so fair he… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he thought within himself that since those steps were so fair he might well set foot thereon, and tell the tale of them, how many they might be, that hereafter he might speak of the great marvel he had seen. Who acts: stairway, steps, many, men. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 10, sentence 50

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And he thought within himself that since those steps were so fair he might well set foot thereon, and tell the tale of them, how many they might be, that hereafter he might speak of the great marvel he had seen.

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**Who acts:** stairway, steps, many, men · **What happens:** think, be, set, tell, speak, see · **To what, where:** foot, tale, hereafter, great marvel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stairway, steps, many, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8447:10:50
# text = And he thought within himself that since those steps were so fair he might well set foot thereon, and tell the tale of them, how many they might be, that hereafter he might speak of the great marvel he had seen.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	within	within	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
16	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	csubj	_	_
17	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	thereon	thereon	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
27	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
28	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	nsubj	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
30	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	hereafter	hereafter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl:relcl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	marvel	marvel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | stairway |  |  |  |  | within stairway | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | that steps |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **set** | might | stairway | foot |  |  |  | thereon, well *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient foot=Result |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | stairway *not said here* | the tale of men |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** | might | many | that hereafter |  |  |  | men *= man* *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | might | stairway | that hereafter *not said here* |  |  |  | of the great marvel | tree rules |
| 7 | **see** | past · perfect | stairway | the great marvel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer marvel=Stimulus |
| 8 | **tell** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

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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.

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**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.

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