---
title: Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty they might scarce find room on the board to set on the dishes. Who acts: plenty, dainties. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 66

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Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty they might scarce find room on the board to set on the dishes.

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**Who acts:** plenty, dainties · **What happens:** be, scarce, set · **To what, where:** Many dainties, find room, board, dishes

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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 (plenty, dainties), 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:pg66084:1:66
# text = Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty they might scarce find room on the board to set on the dishes.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	dainties	dainty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	meats	meat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
13	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	scarce	scarce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	find	find	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	board	board	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the Many dainties |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | the plenty |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **scarce** | might | dainties *= dainty* | find room |  | the board |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **set** | to-infinitive | dainties *= dainty* *not said here* |  |  | the dishes |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on dish=Destination |

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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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