---
title: This beginning of adventures had Arthur at the New Year, for he year… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: This beginning of adventures had Arthur at the New Year, for he yearned to hear gallant tales, though his words were few when he sat at the feast. Who acts: beginning, words. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Westo
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 3, sentence 9

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This beginning of adventures had Arthur at the New Year, for he yearned to hear gallant tales, though his words were few when he sat at the feast.

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**Who acts:** beginning, words · **What happens:** have, yearn, hear, be, sit, begin · **To what, where:** Arthur, gallant tales, feast, adventures

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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 (beginning, words), 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:pg66084:3:9
# text = This beginning of adventures had Arthur at the New Year, for he yearned to hear gallant tales, though his words were few when he sat at the feast.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	beginning	beginning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	adventures	adventure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Arthur	Arthur	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	New	New	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Year	Year	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	yearned	yearn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	gallant	gallant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | this beginning of adventures | Arthur |  |  | at the New Year |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arthur=Patient |
| 2 | **yearn** | past | beginning |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | beginning *not said here* | gallant tales |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer tale=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | beginning's words |  |  |  |  | few *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **sit** | past | beginning |  |  | the feast |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at feast=Location |
| 6 | **begin** |  |  | adventures |  |  |  |  | nom beginning «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **word** |  | beginning |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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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