---
title: But he went, ere he wist, to a chosen tryst, and three started forth… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: But he went, ere he wist, to a chosen tryst, and three started forth on him at once, so he must needs double back, and betake him to the wood again. Who acts: fox, three. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, O
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 6, sentence 60

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But he went, ere he wist, to a chosen tryst, and three started forth on him at once, so he must needs double back, and betake him to the wood again.

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**Who acts:** fox, three · **What happens:** go, wist, choose, start, need, betake · **To what, where:** ere, chosen tryst, fox

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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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, three), 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:pg66084:6:60
# text = But he went, ere he wist, to a chosen tryst, and three started forth on him at once, so he must needs double back, and betake him to the wood again.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	ere	ere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	wist	wist	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	tryst	tryst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
16	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
27	double	double	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	back	back	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	betake	betake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	again	again	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | fox | ere |  | a chosen tryst |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to tryst=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **wist** | present | fox | ere *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **choose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **start** | past | three |  |  |  |  | on fox; forth *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **need** | must | fox |  |  |  |  | double *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **betake** | infinitive | fox *not said here* | fox |  |  | again | to the wood | tree rules |

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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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