---
title: The knight bore no helm nor hauberk, neither gorget nor breast-plate… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The knight bore no helm nor hauberk, neither gorget nor breast-plate, neither shaft nor buckler to smite nor to shield, but in one hand he had a holly-bough, that is greenest when the groves are bare, and in his other an axe, huge and uncomely, a cruel weapon in fashion, if one would picture it. Who
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 18

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The knight bore no helm nor hauberk, neither gorget nor breast-plate, neither shaft nor buckler to smite nor to shield, but in one hand he had a holly-bough, that is greenest when the groves are bare, and in his other an axe, huge and uncomely, a cruel weapon in fashion, if one would picture it.

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**Who acts:** knight, that, groves, one · **What happens:** bear, smite, shield, have, be, picture · **To what, where:** helm, other axe, holly bough, one hand, bough

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knight, that, groves, one), 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:pg66084:2:18
# text = The knight bore no helm nor hauberk, neither gorget nor breast-plate, neither shaft nor buckler to smite nor to shield, but in one hand he had a holly-bough, that is greenest when the groves are bare, and in his other an axe, huge and uncomely, a cruel weapon in fashion, if one would picture it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	helm	helm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	7	cc	_	_
7	hauberk	hauberk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	10	cc:preconj	_	_
10	gorget	gorget	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	14	cc	_	_
12	breast	breast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	17	cc:preconj	_	_
17	shaft	shaft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
18	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	19	cc	_	_
19	buckler	buckler	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
22	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	24	cc	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	shield	shield	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	holly	holly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	bough	bough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	nsubj	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	greenest	green	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	parataxis	_	_
40	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	44	mark	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	groves	grove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
43	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
49	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
50	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	uncomely	uncomely	ADV	RB	_	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	weapon	weapon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	appos	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
63	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	66	mark	_	_
64	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	nsubj	_	_
65	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	66	aux	_	_
66	picture	picture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
67	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | the knight | no helm nor hauberk |  | Knight's other axe |  | gorget nor breast plate *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent helm=Patient |
| 2 | **smite** | to-infinitive | the knight *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **shield** | to-infinitive | the knight *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | Knight | a holly bough |  | one hand |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bough=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | green *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | present | the groves |  |  |  |  | bare *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **picture** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | one | bough |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

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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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