---
title: He was all black, even as I tell ye: his head, his body, and his han… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: He was all black, even as I tell ye: his head, his body, and his hands were all black, saving only his teeth. Who acts: knight, I, hands. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 2, sentence 72

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He was all black, even as I tell ye: his head, his body, and his hands were all black, saving only his teeth.

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**Who acts:** knight, I, hands · **What happens:** be, tell, save · **To what, where:** head, ye, teeth · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knight, I, hands), 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:pg8447:2:73
# text = He was all black, even as I tell ye: his head, his body, and his hands were all black, saving only his teeth.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	even	even	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
23	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	saving	save	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | knight |  |  |  |  | black *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | I | knight's head and knight's body | ye |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent ye=Recipient head=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past | knight's hands |  |  |  |  | black *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **save** | gerund | knight's hands *not said here* | knight's teeth |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tooth=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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