---
title: A lad came to the door and asked them what they desired, and if augh… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: A lad came to the door and asked them what they desired, and if aught ailed them that they required aid. Who acts: lad, steeds, aught. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 9, sentence 101

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A lad came to the door and asked them what they desired, and if aught ailed them that they required aid.

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**Who acts:** lad, steeds, aught · **What happens:** come, ask, desire, ail, require · **To what, where:** door, steeds, aid · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lad, steeds, aught), 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:pg8447:9:101
# text = A lad came to the door and asked them what they desired, and if aught ailed them that they required aid.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	aught	aught	PRON	NN	PronType=Ind	17	nsubj	_	_
17	ailed	ail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	required	require	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
22	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a lad |  |  | the door |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to door=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | a lad *not said here* |  | steeds *= steed* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **desire** | past | steeds *= steed* |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 4 | **ail** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | aught | steeds *= steed* |  |  |  |  | vn pain-40.8.1 «NP V NP.experiencer»: agent=Patient they=Experiencer |
| 5 | **require** | past | steeds *= steed* | aid |  |  |  |  | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme aid=Precondition |

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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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