---
title: With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying h… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying him: had it fallen as straight as he aimed he who was ever doughty of deed had been slain by the blow. Who acts: Sir, mighty feint, force, blow. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retol
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 8, sentence 36

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With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying him: had it fallen as straight as he aimed he who was ever doughty of deed had been slain by the blow.

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**Who acts:** Sir, mighty feint, force, blow · **What happens:** bear, slay, have, fall, aim, be · **To what, where:** force, Sir

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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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sir, mighty feint, force, blow), 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:pg66084:8:36
# text = With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying him: had it fallen as straight as he aimed he who was ever doughty of deed had been slain by the blow.
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	aloft	aloft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	feint	feint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	slaying	slay	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	xcomp	_	_
20	as	as	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	straight	straight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	aimed	aim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
26	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	29	advmod	_	_
29	doughty	doughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	deed	deed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	slain	slay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	conj	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | Sir | force |  |  |  | with Sir's force; aloft *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 2 | **slay** | gerund | a mighty feint *not said here* | Sir |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | Sir *not said here* | force |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **fall** | participle | force *not said here* |  |  |  |  | straight *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **aim** | past | Sir |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is** | past | Sir |  |  |  | ever | who *nsubj*; doughty *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **slay** | past · perfect · passive | the blow |  |  |  |  | of deed | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=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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