---
title: It seemed to him as if they were even at his heels, and he saw the s… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed to him as if they were even at his heels, and he saw the snakes and dragons all twist themselves upwards. " Who acts: It, bears, door, snakes. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 10, with its depe
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 10, sentence 55

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It seemed to him as if they were even at his heels, and he saw the snakes and dragons all twist themselves upwards. "

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**Who acts:** It, bears, door, snakes · **What happens:** seem, be, see, twist · **To what, where:** door, bears

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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 (It, bears, door, snakes), 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:pg8447:10:55
# text = It seemed to him as if they were even at his heels, and he saw the snakes and dragons all twist themselves upwards. "
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	_
21	all	all	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	twist	twist	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
23	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obj	_	_
24	upwards	upwards	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
26	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  | door |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | bears *= bear* |  |  |  |  | as door's heels; door *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | door |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **twist** | present | the snakes and dragons | bears *= bear* |  |  |  | all, upwards *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |

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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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