---
title: Then he took his way to the chapel, and sought out a priest privily,… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he took his way to the chapel, and sought out a priest privily, and prayed him to teach him better how his soul might be saved when he should go hence; and there he shrived him, and showed his misdeeds, both great and small, and besought mercy and craved absolution; and the priest assoiled him,
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 7, sentence 9

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Then he took his way to the chapel, and sought out a priest privily, and prayed him to teach him better how his soul might be saved when he should go hence; and there he shrived him, and showed his misdeeds, both great and small, and besought mercy and craved absolution; and the priest assoiled him, and set him as clean as if Doomsday had been on the morrow.

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**Who acts:** Sir, priest, Doomsday · **What happens:** take, seek out, pray, teach, save, go · **To what, where:** way, chapel, priest, Sir, soul, 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 (Sir, priest, Doomsday), 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:pg66084:7:9
# text = Then he took his way to the chapel, and sought out a priest privily, and prayed him to teach him better how his soul might be saved when he should go hence; and there he shrived him, and showed his misdeeds, both great and small, and besought mercy and craved absolution; and the priest assoiled him, and set him as clean as if Doomsday had been on the morrow.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	chapel	chapel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	privily	privily	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	teach	teach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	21	advmod	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	saved	save	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
34	hence	hence	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	39	advmod	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	shrived	shrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	misdeeds	misdeed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc:preconj	_	_
48	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	conj	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
54	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	craved	crave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	conj	_	_
57	absolution	absolution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj	_	_
62	assoiled	assoil	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
63	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
66	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	62	advcl	_	_
67	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	obj	_	_
68	as	as	ADV	RB	_	69	advmod	_	_
69	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	xcomp	_	_
70	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	77	mark	_	_
71	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	77	mark	_	_
72	Doomsday	Doomsday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	77	nsubj	_	_
73	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	77	aux	_	_
74	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	77	cop	_	_
75	on	on	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	morrow	morrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | Sir | Sir's way |  | the chapel | then |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent way=Theme to chapel=Destination |
| 2 | **seek out** | past | Sir *not said here* | a priest |  |  |  | privily *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent priest=Theme |
| 3 | **pray** | past | Sir *not said here* | Sir |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **teach** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Sir *not said here* |  | Sir |  |  | well *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 5 | **save** | might · passive |  | Sir's soul |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | should | Sir |  |  |  |  | hence *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **shrive** | past | Sir | man |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **show** | past | Sir *not said here* | Sir's misdeeds |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent misdeed=Recipient |
| 9 | **beseech** | past | Sir *not said here* | mercy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **crave** | past | Sir *not said here* | absolution |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot absolution=Theme |
| 11 | **assoil** | past | the priest | Sir |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **set** | infinitive | the priest *not said here* | Sir |  |  |  | clean *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient he=Result |
| 13 | **is** | past · perfect | Doomsday |  |  | the morrow |  |  | 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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