---
title: Probably they were allies; but it is also possible that confusion ma… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Probably they were allies; but it is also possible that confusion may have arisen from the fact that the King of Dublin was at one time, as in the Tristan legend, a Viking, and the poet has not distinguished clearly between the nationalities of these sea-robbers. Who acts: Saxons, account, King. A s
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Amen. Notes, sentence 76

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Probably they were allies; but it is also possible that confusion may have arisen from the fact that the King of Dublin was at one time, as in the Tristan legend, a Viking, and the poet has not distinguished clearly between the nationalities of these sea-robbers.

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**Who acts:** Saxons, account, King · **What happens:** be, arise, not distinguish · **To what, where:** confusion, fact, poet

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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, Amen. Notes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Saxons, account, King), 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:pg8447:13:76
# text = Probably they were allies; but it is also possible that confusion may have arisen from the fact that the King of Dublin was at one time, as in the Tristan legend, a Viking, and the poet has not distinguished clearly between the nationalities of these sea-robbers.
1	Probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	allies	ally	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	also	also	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	confusion	confusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
15	arisen	arise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Dublin	Dublin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	Tristan	Tristan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	legend	legend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Viking	viking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	poet	poet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	distinguished	distinguish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
44	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	between	between	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	nationalities	nationality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
49	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
50	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | Saxons *= saxon* |  |  |  |  | allies *nsubj*; probably *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | account |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **arise** | may · perfect · passive |  | confusion |  | the fact |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | the King of Dublin |  |  |  | at one time | the Tristan legend and a Viking *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **distinguish** | present · perfect · passive |  | the poet |  |  |  | between the nationalities of this sea robbers; clearly *property* | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=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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