--- title: Or if they took him captive they might deal with him as they thought… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics description: Or if they took him captive they might deal with him as they thought best, either by burning him in the fire, to cool their rage, or by breaking him upon the wheel--as might seem best to them at the time. " Who acts: friends. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/6/52/) [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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/6/) / 52 # Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 6, sentence 52 Or if they took him captive they might deal with him as they thought best, either by burning him in the fire, to cool their rage, or by breaking him upon the wheel--as might seem best to them at the time. " **Who acts:** friends · **What happens:** take, deal, think, burn, cool, break · **To what, where:** tale, fire, rage, best This is a sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friends), 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:pg8447:6:52 # text = Or if they took him captive they might deal with him as they thought best, either by burning him in the fire, to cool their rage, or by breaking him upon the wheel--as might seem best to them at the time. " 1 Or or CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 2 if if SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ _ 5 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 obj _ _ 6 captive captive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 xcomp _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 deal deal VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 10 with with ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obl _ _ 12 as as SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 13 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 14 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ _ 15 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 14 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 either either CCONJ CC _ 19 cc:preconj _ _ 18 by by SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 19 burning burn VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 14 advcl _ _ 20 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 cool cool VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 conj _ _ 27 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 rage rage NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 or or CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 by by SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 32 breaking break VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 advcl _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 upon upon ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 wheel wheel NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 -- -- PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 as as SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 39 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 seem seem VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 conj _ _ 41 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 40 obj _ _ 42 to to ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nmod _ _ 44 at at ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ 48 " " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | friends *= friend* | | tale | | | captive *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination | | 2 | **deal** | might | friends *= friend* | | | | | with tale | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with he=Theme | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | friends *= friend* | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **burn** | gerund | friends *= friend* *not said here* | tale | | the fire | | | tree rules | | 5 | **cool** | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* | friends's rage | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent rage=Patient | | 6 | **break** | gerund | friends *= friend* *not said here* | tale | | | | upon the wheel | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient | | 7 | **seem** | might | friends *= friend* *not said here* | best | | | time | to friends *= friend* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme good=Attribute | | 8 | **rage** | | friends *= friend* | | | | | | nom rage «feeling 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/pg8447/6/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/6/53/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8447/6/)