---
title: Many a time did Sir Lancelot strike and smite at the beast, but neve… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Many a time did Sir Lancelot strike and smite at the beast, but never a groat might he harm it; but the monster fell upon Sir Lancelot and scored him even to the feet, and dealt him many a wound, and breathed out venom upon him; had it not been for a ring which Sir Lancelot ware upon his finger he h
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 11, sentence 6

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Many a time did Sir Lancelot strike and smite at the beast, but never a groat might he harm it; but the monster fell upon Sir Lancelot and scored him even to the feet, and dealt him many a wound, and breathed out venom upon him; had it not been for a ring which Sir Lancelot ware upon his finger he had fallen dead where he stood from the poison.

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**Who acts:** Many time, groat, monster, ring · **What happens:** do, smite, harm, fall, score, deal · **To what, where:** Lancelot strike, beast, monster, many wound, venom, Sir ware

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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 (Many time, groat, monster, ring), 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:pg8447:11:6
# text = Many a time did Sir Lancelot strike and smite at the beast, but never a groat might he harm it; but the monster fell upon Sir Lancelot and scored him even to the feet, and dealt him many a wound, and breathed out venom upon him; had it not been for a ring which Sir Lancelot ware upon his finger he had fallen dead where he stood from the poison.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:desc	_	_
6	Lancelot	Lancelot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	strike	strike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
15	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	groat	groat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	Lancelot	Lancelot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	flat	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	scored	score	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	even	even	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	dealt	deal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	wound	wound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	breathed	breathe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
47	out	out	ADP	RP	_	46	compound:prt	_	_
48	venom	venom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
49	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	_
54	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
55	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	58	cop	_	_
56	for	for	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
59	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	62	nsubj	_	_
60	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	_
61	Lancelot	Lancelot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	60	flat	_	_
62	ware	ware	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	appos	_	_
63	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	_
66	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	68	nsubj	_	_
67	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	68	aux	_	_
68	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	62	acl:relcl	_	_
69	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	68	xcomp	_	_
70	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	72	advmod	_	_
71	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	72	nsubj	_	_
72	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	69	advcl	_	_
73	from	from	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
74	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	75	det	_	_
75	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	72	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | a Many time | Lancelot strike |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strike=Eventuality |
| 2 | **smite** | infinitive | a Many time *not said here* |  |  | the beast |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **harm** | might | a groat | beast |  |  |  | Sir *nsubj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus it=Experiencer |
| 4 | **fall** | past | the monster |  |  |  |  | upon Sir | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon sir=Location |
| 5 | **score** | past | the monster *not said here* | monster |  |  |  | to the feet | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **deal** | past | a Many time *not said here* | a many wound | monster |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient wound=Theme |
| 7 | **breathe out** | participle | a Many time *not said here* | venom |  |  |  | upon monster | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent venom=Theme |
| 8 | **have** | past | a Many time *not said here* | beast |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 9 | **not** **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | for a ring | tree rules |
| 10 | **ware** |  | a ring |  |  |  |  | upon monster's finger | tree rules |
| 11 | **fall** | past · perfect | monster | Sir ware *not said here* |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient ware=Result |
| 12 | **stand** | past | monster |  |  | the poison |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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