---
title: Were he twofold my father he might well be in fear of death, should… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: Were he twofold my father he might well be in fear of death, should he fail to keep his oath, and ride with me to the Moorish land." Who acts: twofold, man, father. A sentence of «Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 9, wi
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 9, sentence 4

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Were he twofold my father he might well be in fear of death, should he fail to keep his oath, and ride with me to the Moorish land."

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**Who acts:** twofold, man, father · **What happens:** be, twofold, fail, not keep, ride · **To what, where:** fear, oath, Moorish land

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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 (twofold, man, father), 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:pg8447:9:4
# text = Were he twofold my father he might well be in fear of death, should he fail to keep his oath, and ride with me to the Moorish land."
1	Were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	twofold	twofold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
8	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	ride	ride	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	Moorish	moorish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | twofold |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **twofold** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | might | my father |  |  | fear |  | of death; man *nsubj*; well *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **fail** | should | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **not** **keep** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | man's oath |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent oath=Theme |
| 6 | **ride** | infinitive |  |  |  | the Moorish land |  | with me | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent to land=Trajectory |

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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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