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title: For he had sworn a great oath, nor would he lightly break it, that m… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: For he had sworn a great oath, nor would he lightly break it, that might he win the castle he should spare no man of all that were within, but should put such shame upon them, and on the queen, that men should speak thereof for all time. Who acts: man, that, men. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Ro
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 34

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For he had sworn a great oath, nor would he lightly break it, that might he win the castle he should spare no man of all that were within, but should put such shame upon them, and on the queen, that men should speak thereof for all time.

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**Who acts:** man, that, men · **What happens:** swear, break, win, spare, put, speak · **To what, where:** great oath, oath, castle, man, such shame · **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 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, that, 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:pg8447:11:34
# text = For he had sworn a great oath, nor would he lightly break it, that might he win the castle he should spare no man of all that were within, but should put such shame upon them, and on the queen, that men should speak thereof for all time.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	sworn	swear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	13	cc	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	nsubj	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	win	win	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
25	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	26	det	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	within	within	ADP	IN	_	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
36	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
48	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
50	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	53	det	_	_
53	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	49	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swear** | past · perfect | man | a great oath |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent oath=Eventuality |
| 2 | **break** | would | man | oath |  |  |  | lightly *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |
| 3 | **win** | might | that | the castle |  |  |  | man *nsubj* | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent castle=Eventuality |
| 4 | **spare** | should | man | no man |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent man=Asset |
| 5 | **put** | should | that *not said here* | such shame |  |  |  | upon matters *= matter* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent shame=Theme upon they=Destination |
| 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | should | men |  |  |  | time | on the queen | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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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