---
title: But all they who lay in the ships, when they beheld Morien who had d… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: But all they who lay in the ships, when they beheld Morien who had doffed his helm, were so afeard for him that they might neither hear nor understand question nor answer. Who acts: knights, Morien. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jes
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 25

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But all they who lay in the ships, when they beheld Morien who had doffed his helm, were so afeard for him that they might neither hear nor understand question nor answer.

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**Who acts:** knights, Morien · **What happens:** lay, behold, doff, be, hear, understand · **To what, where:** helm, ships, question

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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 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knights, Morien), 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:pg8447:7:25
# text = But all they who lay in the ships, when they beheld Morien who had doffed his helm, were so afeard for him that they might neither hear nor understand question nor answer.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	reparandum	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ships	ship	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
13	Morien	Morien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	doffed	doff	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	helm	helm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	afeard	afeard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
30	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	31	cc	_	_
31	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
32	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	34	cc	_	_
34	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | present | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **behold** | past | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **doff** | past · perfect | Morien | Morien's helm |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn simple\_dressing-41.3.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent helm=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  |  | the ships |  | for Morien; afeard *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **hear** | might | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **understand** | infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* | question nor answer |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer question=Stimulus |

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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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