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title: But this he would not do, howsoe'er he prayed him, but said he must… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: But this he would not do, howsoe'er he prayed him, but said he must first seek Sir Lancelot, and learn if harm had befallen him. Who acts: this, Sir. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 9, with its dependen
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 9, sentence 37

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But this he would not do, howsoe'er he prayed him, but said he must first seek Sir Lancelot, and learn if harm had befallen him.

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**Who acts:** this, Sir · **What happens:** not do, pray, say, seek, learn, befall · **To what, where:** howsoe'er, Gawain, Sir, harm · **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 (this, Sir), 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:pg8447:9:37
# text = But this he would not do, howsoe'er he prayed him, but said he must first seek Sir Lancelot, and learn if harm had befallen him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj:outer	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	howsoe'er	howsoe'er	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	advmod	_	_
18	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
19	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	Lancelot	Lancelot	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
24	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	befallen	befall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	ccomp	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | would | this | howsoe'er |  |  |  | Sir *nsubj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent howsoe'er=Eventuality |
| 2 | **pray** | past | Sir | Gawain |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | this *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **seek** | must | Sir | Sir |  |  |  | first *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sir=Theme |
| 5 | **learn** | infinitive | Sir *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **befall** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | harm |  |  |  | Sir *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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