---
title: The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the lan… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the land; the angry wind of the welkin wrestles with the sun; the leaves fall from the trees and light upon the ground, and all brown are the groves that but now were green, and ripe is the fruit that once was flower. Who acts: drought, le
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 3, sentence 20

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The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the land; the angry wind of the welkin wrestles with the sun; the leaves fall from the trees and light upon the ground, and all brown are the groves that but now were green, and ripe is the fruit that once was flower.

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**Who acts:** drought, leaves, groves, ripe, that · **What happens:** drive, fly, fall, be, wind · **To what, where:** dust, high, face, trees, groves, fruit

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (drought, leaves, groves, ripe), 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:pg66084:3:20
# text = The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the land; the angry wind of the welkin wrestles with the sun; the leaves fall from the trees and light upon the ground, and all brown are the groves that but now were green, and ripe is the fruit that once was flower.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	drought	drought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	drives	drive	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	over	over	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	welkin	welkin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	wrestles	wrestle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
36	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	det	_	_
42	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
43	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	groves	grove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
46	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	50	advmod	_	_
49	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
50	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
53	ripe	ripe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
54	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	56	cop	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	parataxis	_	_
57	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	60	nsubj	_	_
58	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	60	advmod	_	_
59	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	cop	_	_
60	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drive** | present | the drought | the dust |  | high |  | the angry wind of the welkin wrestles with the sun *obl* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent dust=Theme on high=Destination |
| 2 | **fly** | gerund | the drought *not said here* |  |  | the face of the land |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over face=Location |
| 3 | **fall** | present | the leaves |  |  | the trees and light upon the ground |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from tree=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is a** | present |  | all groves |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | all groves |  |  |  | now | green *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | present | ripe | the fruit and flower |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | past | that | flower |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **wind** |  |  | the welkin wrestles with the sun |  |  |  |  | nom wind «phenomenon transitive»: 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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