---
title: And if ye will listen to me, but for a little while, I will tell it… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: And if ye will listen to me, but for a little while, I will tell it even as it stands in story stiff and strong, fixed in the letter, as it hath long been known in the land. Who acts: ye, I, adventure. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Moder
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 46

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And if ye will listen to me, but for a little while, I will tell it even as it stands in story stiff and strong, fixed in the letter, as it hath long been known in the land.

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**Who acts:** ye, I, adventure · **What happens:** listen, tell, stand, fix, know · **To what, where:** me, adventure, story, letter, land · **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 (ye, I, adventure), 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:pg66084:1:46
# text = And if ye will listen to me, but for a little while, I will tell it even as it stands in story stiff and strong, fixed in the letter, as it hath long been known in the land.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	5	nsubj	_	_
4	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	even	even	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
25	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
37	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	39	advmod	_	_
38	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	parataxis	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | future | ye |  | me |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to i=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | future | I |  | adventure |  | while |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient |
| 3 | **stand** | present | adventure |  |  | story |  | stiff *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in story=Location |
| 4 | **fix** | participle | adventure *not said here* |  |  | the letter |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **know** | present · perfect · passive |  | adventure |  | the land |  | long *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=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:** «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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