---
title: Scholars know all this, of course; they can read the poem for themse… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Scholars know all this, of course; they can read the poem for themselves in its original rough and intricate phraseology; perhaps they will be shocked at an attempt to handle it in simpler form. Who acts: Scholars. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Re
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/36/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Mid…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/) / 36

# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scholars know all this, of course; they can read the poem for themselves in its original rough and intricate phraseology; perhaps they will be shocked at an attempt to handle it in simpler form.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Scholars · **What happens:** know, read, shock, handle · **To what, where:** this, poem, original rough phraseology, scholars, attempt, simpler form

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Scholars), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66084:1:36
# text = Scholars know all this, of course; they can read the poem for themselves in its original rough and intricate phraseology; perhaps they will be shocked at an attempt to handle it in simpler form.
1	Scholars	scholar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
17	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
18	original	original	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
19	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	intricate	intricate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	_
22	phraseology	phraseology	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	shocked	shock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	handle	handle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	acl	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	simpler	simple	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	37	amod	_	_
37	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | Scholars | this |  |  |  | of course | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **read** | can | scholars *= scholar* | the poem |  | poem's original rough phraseology |  | for scholars *= scholar* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poem=Topic |
| 3 | **shock** | future · passive |  | scholars *= scholar* |  | a attempt |  | perhaps *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **handle** | to-infinitive |  | poem |  | simpler form |  |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/35/)
- next →: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/37/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/)