---
title: Be he churl or chaplain who rides by that chapel, monk or mass-pries… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Be he churl or chaplain who rides by that chapel, monk or mass-priest, or any man else, he thinks it as pleasant to slay them as to pass alive himself. Who acts: man, chaplain. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Wes
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 7, sentence 76

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Be he churl or chaplain who rides by that chapel, monk or mass-priest, or any man else, he thinks it as pleasant to slay them as to pass alive himself.

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**Who acts:** man, chaplain · **What happens:** be, ride, think, slay, pass · **To what, where:** churl, Chapel, man

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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 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, chaplain), 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:pg66084:7:76
# text = Be he churl or chaplain who rides by that chapel, monk or mass-priest, or any man else, he thinks it as pleasant to slay them as to pass alive himself.
1	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	churl	churl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	chaplain	chaplain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	rides	ride	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	chapel	chapel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
21	else	else	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	thinks	think	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	pleasant	pleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	slay	slay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
34	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	_
35	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | infinitive | man | churl or chaplain |  |  |  | chaplain *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ride** | present | chaplain |  |  |  |  | by that chapel and monk or mass priest | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | present | man | Chapel |  |  |  | pleasant *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 4 | **slay** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | churl |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **pass** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | man |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme himself=Trajectory |

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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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