---
title: The MS. is of the end of the fourteenth century, but it is possible… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The MS. is of the end of the fourteenth century, but it is possible that the composition of the poem is somewhat earlier; the subject matter is certainly of very old date. Who acts: MS., composition, subject matter. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance R
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 7

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The MS. is of the end of the fourteenth century, but it is possible that the composition of the poem is somewhat earlier; the subject matter is certainly of very old date.

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**Who acts:** MS., composition, subject matter · **What happens:** be

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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 (MS., composition, subject matter), 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:pg66084:1:7
# text = The MS. is of the end of the fourteenth century, but it is possible that the composition of the poem is somewhat earlier; the subject matter is certainly of very old date.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	MS.	MS.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	fourteenth	fourteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	century	century	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	composition	composition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	RB	_	15	conj	_	_
24	earlier	early	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
30	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	very	very	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the MS. |  |  |  | of the end and old date; century |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | MS. |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the composition of the poem |  |  |  |  | early, somewhat *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present | the subject matter |  |  |  |  | of old date; certainly *property* | tree rules |

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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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