---
title: He defended him so well with his mighty blows that none might come a… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: He defended him so well with his mighty blows that none might come at him to harm him; he felled them by twos and by threes, some under their horses, some beside them. Who acts: Sir, mighty blows. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessi
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 7, sentence 54

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He defended him so well with his mighty blows that none might come at him to harm him; he felled them by twos and by threes, some under their horses, some beside them.

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**Who acts:** Sir, mighty blows · **What happens:** defend, come, harm, fell, blow · **To what, where:** folk, Sir, blows

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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 (Sir, mighty blows), 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:pg8447:7:54
# text = He defended him so well with his mighty blows that none might come at him to harm him; he felled them by twos and by threes, some under their horses, some beside them.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	defended	defend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	blows	blow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
11	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	13	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	felled	fell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	twos	two	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	threes	three	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	conj	_	_
30	under	under	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	conj	_	_
35	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **defend** | past | Sir |  | folk |  |  | with Sir's mighty blows; well *property* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **come** | might | Sir's mighty blows |  |  |  |  | at Sir; none *nsubj* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at he=Location |
| 3 | **harm** | to-infinitive | Sir's mighty blows *not said here* | Sir |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 4 | **fell** | past | Sir | blows *= blow* |  |  |  | by twos and threes | tree rules |
| 5 | **blow** |  | Sir |  |  |  |  |  | nom blow «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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