---
title: And the knight answered, “Nay, I ask no fight, in faith here on the… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the knight answered, “Nay, I ask no fight, in faith here on the benches are but beardless children, were I clad in armour on my steed there is no man here might match me. Who acts: knight, beardless children, man. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 40

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And the knight answered, “Nay, I ask no fight, in faith here on the benches are but beardless children, were I clad in armour on my steed there is no man here might match me.

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**Who acts:** knight, beardless children, man · **What happens:** answer, ask, be, match · **To what, where:** fight, benches, armour, steed, knight · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, beardless children, man), 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:pg66084:2:40
# text = And the knight answered, “Nay, I ask no fight, in faith here on the benches are but beardless children, were I clad in armour on my steed there is no man here might match me.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Nay	nay	INTJ	UH	_	10	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
12	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
16	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	benches	bench	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
20	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	beardless	beardless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	clad	clad	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	armour	armour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
33	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	34	expl	_	_
34	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
35	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	36	det	_	_
36	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
37	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	36	advmod	_	_
38	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	match	match	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	ccomp	_	_
40	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the knight |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present | the knight *= knight* | no fight |  |  |  | faith on the benches *ccomp* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fight=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | beardless children | the benches *not said here* |  | armour |  | I *nsubj*; clad *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  | my steed; there |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **match** *in a quote* | might | no man | the knight *= knight* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=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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