--- title: Our poem, or, to speak more correctly, metrical romance, contains ov… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics description: Our poem, or, to speak more correctly, metrical romance, contains over 2500 lines, and is composed in staves of varying length, ending in five short rhyming lines, technically known as a bob and a wheel,—the lines forming the body of the stave being not rhyming, but alliterative. Who acts: poem, sta --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/9/) [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/) / 9 # Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 1, sentence 9 Our poem, or, to speak more correctly, metrical romance, contains over 2500 lines, and is composed in staves of varying length, ending in five short rhyming lines, technically known as a bob and a wheel,—the lines forming the body of the stave being not rhyming, but alliterative. **Who acts:** poem, staves, lines · **What happens:** speak, contain, compose, vary, end, rhyme · **To what, where:** 2500 lines, staves, length, five short rhyming lines, body, stave · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (poem, staves, lines), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66084:1:9 # text = Our poem, or, to speak more correctly, metrical romance, contains over 2500 lines, and is composed in staves of varying length, ending in five short rhyming lines, technically known as a bob and a wheel,—the lines forming the body of the stave being not rhyming, but alliterative. 1 Our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 poem poem NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 4 or or CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 acl:relcl _ _ 8 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 9 advmod _ _ 9 correctly correctly ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 metrical metrical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 romance romance NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 14 contains contain VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 15 over over ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 2500 2500 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 17 nummod _ _ 17 lines line NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 20 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux:pass _ _ 21 composed compose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 parataxis _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 staves stave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obl _ _ 24 of of SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 25 varying vary VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 23 acl _ _ 26 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 28 ending end VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 25 conj _ _ 29 in in ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 30 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 nummod _ _ 31 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 32 rhyming rhyme VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 amod _ _ 33 lines line NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 technically technically ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 known know VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 acl _ _ 37 as as ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 bob bob NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 wheel wheel NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 — - PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 lines line NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 conj _ _ 47 forming form VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 46 acl _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ _ 50 of of ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 52 stave stave NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nmod _ _ 53 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 55 nsubj _ _ 54 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 55 advmod _ _ 55 rhyming rhyme VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 52 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 58 punct _ _ 57 but but CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 58 alliterative alliterative ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Our poem *not said here* | | | | | correctly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **contain** | present | Our poem | 2500 lines | | | | | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot line=Theme | | 3 | **compose** | present · passive | | | | staves and the lines | | | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V» | | 4 | **vary** | gerund | staves and the lines *not said here* | length | | | | | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Causer length=Patient | | 5 | **end** | gerund | staves and the lines *not said here* | | | five short rhyming lines | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 6 | **rhyme** | gerund | | | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 7 | **know** | participle | | five short rhyming lines *not said here* | | | | as a bob and a wheel; technically *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as bob=Attribute | | 8 | **form** | gerund | the lines *not said here* | the body of the stave | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location body=Theme | | 9 | **not** **rhyme** | gerund | | the stave *not said here* | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stave=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/10/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/1/)