---
title: And the boatman was fain to flee when he beheld him and he drew nigh… — Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the boatman was fain to flee when he beheld him and he drew nigh to him, for he had seen him aforetime. Who acts: boatman, crossing. 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 t
---

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# Morien: A Metrical Romance Rendered into English Prose from the Mediæval Dutch, Opening, part 9, sentence 70

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And the boatman was fain to flee when he beheld him and he drew nigh to him, for he had seen him aforetime.

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**Who acts:** boatman, crossing · **What happens:** be, flee, behold, draw, see · **To what, where:** riding

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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 (boatman, crossing), 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:pg8447:9:70
# text = And the boatman was fain to flee when he beheld him and he drew nigh to him, for he had seen him aforetime.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boatman	boatman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	fain	fain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	flee	flee	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
15	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	aforetime	aforetime	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the boatman |  |  |  |  | fain *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **flee** | to-infinitive | the boatman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **behold** | past | crossing | riding |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 4 | **draw** | past | crossing |  | riding |  |  | nigh *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to he=Destination |
| 5 | **see** | past · perfect | crossing | riding |  |  |  | aforetime *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=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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