---
title: And yet he was but a man, only the mightiest that might mount a stee… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: And yet he was but a man, only the mightiest that might mount a steed; broad of chest and shoulders and slender of waist, and all his features of like fashion; but men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight, yet was green all over. Who acts: folk, that, features. A sentence of «S
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 4

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And yet he was but a man, only the mightiest that might mount a steed; broad of chest and shoulders and slender of waist, and all his features of like fashion; but men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight, yet was green all over.

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**Who acts:** folk, that, features · **What happens:** be, mount, marvell, ride, feature · **To what, where:** man, steed, colour, fashion

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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 (folk, that, features), 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:pg66084:2:4
# text = And yet he was but a man, only the mightiest that might mount a steed; broad of chest and shoulders and slender of waist, and all his features of like fashion; but men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight, yet was green all over.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mightiest	mighty	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	mount	mount	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	broad	broad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	slender	slender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	waist	waist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
29	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	features	feature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	like	like	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
36	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
38	marvelled	marvell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
39	much	much	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
47	even	even	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
48	as	as	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	conj	_	_
55	all	all	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
56	over	over	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | folk | a man |  |  | yet |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **mount** | might | that | a steed |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent steed=Patient |
| 3 | **marvell** | past | folk's features of fashion |  |  | folk's colour |  | men *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ride** | past | folk |  |  |  |  | as a knight | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | folk *not said here* |  |  |  |  | green, over *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **feature** |  | folk | fashion |  |  |  |  | nom feature «cognition transitive»: poss=agent of=patient |

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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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