---
title: Then was the black knight blithe, and drew near to Sir Lancelot, and… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then was the black knight blithe, and drew near to Sir Lancelot, and bared his head, which was black as pitch; that was the fashion of his land--Moors are black as burnt brands. Who acts: head, that, Moors. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 3, sentence 48

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Then was the black knight blithe, and drew near to Sir Lancelot, and bared his head, which was black as pitch; that was the fashion of his land--Moors are black as burnt brands.

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**Who acts:** head, that, Moors · **What happens:** be, draw, bare · **To what, where:** head, fashion

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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 (head, that, Moors), 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:pg8447:3:48
# text = Then was the black knight blithe, and drew near to Sir Lancelot, and bared his head, which was black as pitch; that was the fashion of his land--Moors are black as burnt brands.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	blithe	blithe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	near	near	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	Lancelot	Lancelot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	bared	bare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
26	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	Moors	moor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	parataxis	_	_
37	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	burnt	burnt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	brands	brand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | then | the black knight *obl:unmarked*; blithe *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **draw** | past |  |  |  |  |  | near Sir | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bare** | past |  | Sir's head |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | past | Sir's head |  |  |  |  | as pitch; black *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | that | the fashion |  |  |  | of Sir's land | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | present | Moors |  |  |  |  | as burnt brands; black *property* | tree rules |

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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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