---
title: Then he beheld, and on the ground beneath were serpents and wild bea… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he beheld, and on the ground beneath were serpents and wild bears, even as if they would tear him; they gnashed their teeth as if they would seize him, and gaped with their jaws as they would swallow him. Who acts: door, bears. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Pro
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 10, sentence 54

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Then he beheld, and on the ground beneath were serpents and wild bears, even as if they would tear him; they gnashed their teeth as if they would seize him, and gaped with their jaws as they would swallow him.

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**Who acts:** door, bears · **What happens:** behold, be, tear, gnash, seize, gape · **To what, where:** ground, door, teeth

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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 (door, bears), 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:pg8447:10:54
# text = Then he beheld, and on the ground beneath were serpents and wild bears, even as if they would tear him; they gnashed their teeth as if they would seize him, and gaped with their jaws as they would swallow him.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	even	even	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	gnashed	gnash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	gaped	gape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
40	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
44	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **behold** | past | door |  |  | the ground | then |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | beneath serpents and wild bears; wild bears *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **tear** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | bears *= bear* | door |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location he=Theme |
| 4 | **gnash** | past | bears *= bear* | bears's teeth |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=Patient |
| 5 | **seize** | would | bears *= bear* | door |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **gape** | participle | door *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with bears's jaws | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **swallow** | would | bears *= bear* | door |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

<!-- .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.

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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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