---
title: So did I cause myself to be dubbed knight, and sware a great oath (I… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: So did I cause myself to be dubbed knight, and sware a great oath (I were loth to break it) that never should I meet a knight but I would fight him, or he should tell me if he perchance knew any tidings of my father, that I might learn somewhat concerning him. Who acts: I, Sir. A sentence of «Morien
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 3, sentence 41

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So did I cause myself to be dubbed knight, and sware a great oath (I were loth to break it) that never should I meet a knight but I would fight him, or he should tell me if he perchance knew any tidings of my father, that I might learn somewhat concerning him.

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**Who acts:** I, Sir · **What happens:** cause, dub, sware, be, break, not meet · **To what, where:** myself, knight, great oath, oath, that, Sir · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Sir), 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:pg8447:3:41
# text = So did I cause myself to be dubbed knight, and sware a great oath (I were loth to break it) that never should I meet a knight but I would fight him, or he should tell me if he perchance knew any tidings of my father, that I might learn somewhat concerning him.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cause	cause	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	dubbed	dub	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
9	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	sware	sware	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	loth	loth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	appos	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	19	punct	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obj	_	_
25	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
26	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	appos	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
41	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	40	iobj	_	_
42	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	perchance	perchance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	flat	_	_
45	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	ccomp	_	_
46	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	47	det	_	_
47	tidings	tiding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
53	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	conj	_	_
56	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	concerning	concern	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	55	advcl	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | past · do-support | I | myself |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition myself=Patient |
| 2 | **dub** | to-infinitive · passive | I *not said here* | knight |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: knight=Result |
| 3 | **sware** | infinitive |  | a great oath |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | loth *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **break** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | oath |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **meet** | should | I | that |  |  |  | a knight *obj* | tree rules |
| 7 | **fight** | would | I | Sir |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | should | Sir |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 9 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Sir | any tidings of my father |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer tiding=Stimulus |
| 10 | **learn** | might | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **concern** | gerund | I *not said here* | Sir |  |  |  | somewhat *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

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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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