---
title: The head was an ell-yard long, the metal all of green steel and gold… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The head was an ell-yard long, the metal all of green steel and gold, the blade burnished bright, with a broad edge, as well shapen to shear as a sharp razor. Who acts: head, blade. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 19

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The head was an ell-yard long, the metal all of green steel and gold, the blade burnished bright, with a broad edge, as well shapen to shear as a sharp razor.

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**Who acts:** head, blade · **What happens:** be, burnish, shapen, shear · **To what, where:** broad edge

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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 (head, blade), 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:pg66084:2:19
# text = The head was an ell-yard long, the metal all of green steel and gold, the blade burnished bright, with a broad edge, as well shapen to shear as a sharp razor.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	ell	ell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	conj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	burnished	burnish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
22	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
31	shapen	shapen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	shear	shear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	as	as	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	razor	razor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the head |  |  |  |  | a ell yard *obl:unmarked*; long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **burnish** | participle | the blade |  |  |  |  | a broad edge *parataxis*; bright *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **shapen** | participle |  | a broad edge *not said here* |  |  |  | well *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **shear** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | as a sharp razor | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

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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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