---
title: Little good hath it done me that he be my father, and that he sware… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Little good hath it done me that he be my father, and that he sware to my mother, ere he departed, that for her honour, and for her profit, he would return to her without fail. Who acts: Little good, plight, Sir, that. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Me
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 3, sentence 36

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Little good hath it done me that he be my father, and that he sware to my mother, ere he departed, that for her honour, and for her profit, he would return to her without fail.

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**Who acts:** Little good, plight, Sir, that, mother · **What happens:** have, do, be, sware, depart, return · **To what, where:** plight, me, father, ere, mother

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Little good, plight, Sir, that), 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:pg8447:3:36
# text = Little good hath it done me that he be my father, and that he sware to my mother, ere he departed, that for her honour, and for her profit, he would return to her without fail.
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hath	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
10	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sware	sware	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	ere	ere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	departed	depart	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	nsubj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	honour	honour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	profit	profit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
40	without	without	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	fail	fail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | Little good | plight |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | participle | plight *not said here* |  | me |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is a** | infinitive | Sir | my father |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 4 | **sware** |  | Sir |  |  |  |  | to my mother | tree rules |
| 5 | **depart** | past | Sir | ere *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ere=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **return** | would | that for mother's honour | mother |  |  |  | for mother's profit; without fail; Sir *nsubj* | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent her=Theme |
| 7 | **honour** |  | mother |  |  |  |  |  | nom honour «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **profit** |  | mother |  |  |  |  |  | nom profit «possession intransitive»: poss=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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