---
title: At first sight one is inclined to assign the episode of the lady of… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: At first sight one is inclined to assign the episode of the lady of the castle to the class of stories of which the oldest version is preserved in Biblical record—the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; a _motif_ not unseldom employed by mediæval writers, and which notably occurs in what we may cal
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 21

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At first sight one is inclined to assign the episode of the lady of the castle to the class of stories of which the oldest version is preserved in Biblical record—the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; a \_motif\_ not unseldom employed by mediæval writers, and which notably occurs in what we may call the \_Launfal\_ group of stories.

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**Who acts:** \_ motif, we · **What happens:** incline, assign, preserve, not employ, occur, call · **To what, where:** sight, episode, class, oldest version, Biblical record, \_ motif · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (\_ motif, we), 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:pg66084:1:21
# text = At first sight one is inclined to assign the episode of the lady of the castle to the class of stories of which the oldest version is preserved in Biblical record—the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; a _motif_ not unseldom employed by mediæval writers, and which notably occurs in what we may call the _Launfal_ group of stories.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	obl	_	_
3	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	flat	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	inclined	incline	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	assign	assign	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	episode	episode	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	class	class	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	oldest	old	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	26	amod	_	_
26	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	preserved	preserve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	Biblical	biblical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	record	record	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	Potiphar	Potiphar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’s	's	PART	POS	_	38	case	_	_
40	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	_	_	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	motif	motif	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	48	punct	_	_
46	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	48	advmod	_	_
47	unseldom	unseldom	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	acl:relcl	_	_
49	by	by	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	mediæval	mediæval	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	writers	writer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	56	nsubj	_	_
55	notably	notably	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
56	occurs	occur	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
57	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
58	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	61	obj	_	_
59	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
60	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
63	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	66	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	Launfal	Launfal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	66	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	66	punct	_	_
66	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obj	_	_
67	of	of	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
68	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **incline** | present · passive |  | sight |  |  |  | a \_ motif *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **assign** | to-infinitive |  | the episode of the lady of the castle |  |  |  | to the class of stories *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent episode=Theme to class=Goal |
| 3 | **preserve** | present · passive |  | the oldest version |  | Biblical record |  | of stories | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **not** **employ** | participle |  | a \_ motif *not said here* |  |  |  | mediæval writers *obl:agent*; unseldom *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **occur** | present | a \_ motif |  |  |  |  | notably *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **call** | may | we | the Launfal group of stories |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme group=Result |

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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:** «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Project Gutenberg book 66084 (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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