--- title: But 'twas labour lost; not for all the riches that belonged to King… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics description: But 'twas labour lost; not for all the riches that belonged to King Arthur would he have taken back his word and his covenant, for any prayer that might be made him, nor have yielded aught through fear. Who acts: riches, Arthur. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose f --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/52/) [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/) / 52 # Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 4, sentence 52 But 'twas labour lost; not for all the riches that belonged to King Arthur would he have taken back his word and his covenant, for any prayer that might be made him, nor have yielded aught through fear. **Who acts:** riches, Arthur · **What happens:** lose, belong, take back, make, yield, word · **To what, where:** twas labour, King Arthur, prayer, aught, fear 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 (riches, Arthur), 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:pg8447:4:52 # text = But 'twas labour lost; not for all the riches that belonged to King Arthur would he have taken back his word and his covenant, for any prayer that might be made him, nor have yielded aught through fear. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 2 ' 's PART POS _ 1 case _ SpaceAfter=No 3 twas twa NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 compound _ _ 4 labour labour NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj:pass _ _ 5 lost lose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ; ; PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 7 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 11 advmod _ _ 8 for for ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 11 det:predet _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 riches rich NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obl _ _ 12 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 13 nsubj _ _ 13 belonged belong VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 acl:relcl _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 compound _ _ 16 Arthur Arthur PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 17 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 20 aux _ _ 20 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 21 back back ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 covenant covenant NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 for for ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 30 det _ _ 30 prayer prayer NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 appos _ _ 31 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 34 obl _ _ 32 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 34 aux:pass _ _ 34 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 acl:relcl _ _ 35 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 39 cc _ _ 38 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 yielded yield VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 20 conj _ _ 40 aught aught PRON NN PronType=Ind 39 obj _ _ 41 through through ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lose** | participle | | twas labour *not said here* | | | | for all riches | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **belong** | past | all riches | | King Arthur | | | | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **take back** | would · perfect · passive | | twas labour | | | | Arthur *nsubj*; Arthur's word and Arthur's covenant *obj* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme word=Destination | | 4 | **make** | might · passive | | any prayer | | | | Arthur *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: he=Product | | 5 | **yield** | present · perfect | | aught | | fear | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent aught=Theme | | 6 | **word** | | Arthur | | | | | | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent | | 7 | **covenant** | | Arthur | | | | | | nom covenant «communication intransitive»: poss=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 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/53/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/4/)