---
title: Like as a wild boar defends himself against the hounds that pursue h… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Like as a wild boar defends himself against the hounds that pursue him, even so did Sir Gawain defend himself, but it helped him naught. Who acts: wild boar, hounds, Gawain, chance. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Op
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 6, sentence 99

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Like as a wild boar defends himself against the hounds that pursue him, even so did Sir Gawain defend himself, but it helped him naught.

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**Who acts:** wild boar, hounds, Gawain, chance · **What happens:** defend, pursue, help · **To what, where:** boar, Gawain

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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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wild boar, hounds, Gawain, chance), 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:pg8447:6:99
# text = Like as a wild boar defends himself against the hounds that pursue him, even so did Sir Gawain defend himself, but it helped him naught.
1	Like	like	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	boar	boar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	defends	defend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	against	against	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hounds	hound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	pursue	pursue	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	even	even	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
17	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod:desc	_	_
19	Gawain	Gawain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	defend	defend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
21	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	helped	help	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	naught	naught	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **defend** | present | a wild boar | boar |  |  |  | against the hounds | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary against hound=Theme |
| 2 | **pursue** | present | the hounds | boar |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **defend** | past · do-support | Gawain  Sir | Gawain |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **help** | past | chance | Gawain |  |  |  | naught *obj* | 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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