---
title: They met many folk, men women and children who would flee the land;… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: They met many folk, men women and children who would flee the land; they drave their cattle before them and were laden with their goods; some were ahorse, some afoot, 'twas the best they might do to their thinking. Who acts: knights, children, some, twas. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Re
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 43

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They met many folk, men women and children who would flee the land; they drave their cattle before them and were laden with their goods; some were ahorse, some afoot, 'twas the best they might do to their thinking.

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**Who acts:** knights, children, some, twas · **What happens:** meet, flee, drave, lade, be, do · **To what, where:** many folk, land, cattle

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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 (knights, children, some, twas), 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:pg8447:11:43
# text = They met many folk, men women and children who would flee the land; they drave their cattle before them and were laden with their goods; some were ahorse, some afoot, 'twas the best they might do to their thinking.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	compound	_	_
7	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	flee	flee	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	drave	drave	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	before	before	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	laden	lade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	ahorse	ahorse	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
34	afoot	afoot	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
36	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	twas	twa	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	conj	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	acl:relcl	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	thinking	thinking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meet** | past | knights *= knight* | many folk and men women and children |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent folk=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **flee** | would | children | the land |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme land=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **drave** | present | knights *= knight* | knights's cattle |  |  | before cattle |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **lade** | past · passive | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with knights's goods | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | some |  |  |  |  | ahorse *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | some twas |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | might | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  | to knights's thinking | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **think** |  | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  |  | nom thinking «cognition transitive»: poss=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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