--- title: Then said Sir Lancelot: "I ween that 'tis the most pressing need to… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics description: Then said Sir Lancelot: "I ween that 'tis the most pressing need to go fight against the beast whereof the good man telleth us; methinks 'twere well that I ride thither." Who acts: Lancelot, good man, methinks. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval D --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/43/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered in…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/) / [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/) / 43 # Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 4, sentence 43 Then said Sir Lancelot: "I ween that 'tis the most pressing need to go fight against the beast whereof the good man telleth us; methinks 'twere well that I ride thither." **Who acts:** Lancelot, good man, methinks · **What happens:** say, ween, ti, press, need, go · **To what, where:** fight, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lancelot, good man, methinks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8447:4:43 # text = Then said Sir Lancelot: "I ween that 'tis the most pressing need to go fight against the beast whereof the good man telleth us; methinks 'twere well that I ride thither." 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 2 advmod _ _ 2 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 Sir Sir PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nmod:desc _ _ 4 Lancelot Lancelot PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 : : PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ _ 6 " " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 ween ween VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 tis ti VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 14 advmod _ _ 14 pressing press VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 15 need need VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 ccomp _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 fight fight NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 19 against against ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 beast beast NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 22 whereof whereof ADV WRB PronType=Int 26 advmod _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 26 telleth tell VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 27 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 29 methinks methink NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 nsubj _ _ 30 ' 's PART POS _ 29 case _ SpaceAfter=No 31 twere twere ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 32 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 35 advmod _ _ 33 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 ride ride VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 36 thither thither ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Lancelot Sir | | | | then | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **ween** *in a quote* | present | Lancelot Sir *= lancelot* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **ti** *in a quote* | present | Lancelot Sir *= lancelot* *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **press** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **need** *in a quote* | present | Lancelot Sir *= lancelot* *not said here* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 6 | **go** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | Lancelot Sir *= lancelot* *not said here* | fight | | | | against the beast | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fight=Theme | | 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | the good man | | us | | | whereof *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient | | 8 | **ride** *in a quote* | present | methinks | | | | | I *nsubj*; thither, twere, well *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/44/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/)