---
title: The sharp edge of the blade sundered the bones, smote through the ne… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The sharp edge of the blade sundered the bones, smote through the neck, and clave it in two, so that the edge of the steel bit on the ground, and the head rolled even to the horse’s feet. Who acts: sharp edge, edge. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance R
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 85

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The sharp edge of the blade sundered the bones, smote through the neck, and clave it in two, so that the edge of the steel bit on the ground, and the head rolled even to the horse’s feet.

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**Who acts:** sharp edge, edge · **What happens:** sunder, smote, clave, roll · **To what, where:** bones, two, neck, feet

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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 (sharp edge, edge), 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:pg66084:2:85
# text = The sharp edge of the blade sundered the bones, smote through the neck, and clave it in two, so that the edge of the steel bit on the ground, and the head rolled even to the horse’s feet.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	sundered	sunder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	smote	smote	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
12	through	through	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	clave	clave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
37	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
38	even	even	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	’s	's	PART	POS	_	41	case	_	_
43	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sunder** | past | the sharp edge of the blade | the bones |  | two |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bone=Patient |
| 2 | **smote** | infinitive | the sharp edge of the blade *not said here* |  |  | the neck |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **clave** |  | edge |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **roll** | past | the edge of the steel bit on the ground |  |  | the horse's feet |  | the head *nsubj* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to foot=Destination |

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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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