---
title: It is, of course, possible that, there being but a confused reminisc… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is, of course, possible that, there being but a confused reminiscence of the original tale, her share _may_ have been modified by the influence of the _Launfal_ group; but I should prefer to explain the episode on the whole as a somewhat distorted survival of an original feature. Who acts: versio
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 29

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It is, of course, possible that, there being but a confused reminiscence of the original tale, her share \_may\_ have been modified by the influence of the \_Launfal\_ group; but I should prefer to explain the episode on the whole as a somewhat distorted survival of an original feature.

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**Who acts:** version, influence, I, original tale, rôle · **What happens:** be, modify, prefer, explain, distort, reminisce · **To what, where:** confused reminiscence, episode, whole, survival, original feature

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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 (version, influence, I, original tale), 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:pg66084:1:29
# text = It is, of course, possible that, there being but a confused reminiscence of the original tale, her share _may_ have been modified by the influence of the _Launfal_ group; but I should prefer to explain the episode on the whole as a somewhat distorted survival of an original feature.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	aux:pass	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	confused	confused	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	reminiscence	reminiscence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	share	share	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
23	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	_	_	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	modified	modify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	influence	influence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
34	_	_	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	Launfal	Launfal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	35	punct	_	_
37	group	group	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	prefer	prefer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	explain	explain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	episode	episode	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	on	on	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	obl	_	_
50	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	distorted	distort	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	_
54	survival	survival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
57	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	feature	feature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | version |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **modify** | may · gerund · perfect · passive | the influence of the Launfal group | a confused reminiscence of the original tale and rôle's share |  | there |  | \_ *nsubj:pass* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 3 | **prefer** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **explain** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | the episode |  | the whole |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent episode=Topic |
| 5 | **distort** | past | I *not said here* | survival of a original feature |  |  |  | somewhat *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent survival=Material |
| 6 | **reminisce** |  | the original tale and rôle's share |  |  |  |  |  | nom reminiscence «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |
| 7 | **share** |  | rôle |  |  |  |  |  | nom share «possession transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **survive** |  |  | a original feature |  |  |  |  | nom survival «state transitive»: of=patient |

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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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