---
title: _In its present form_ the latter is certainly posterior to the Grail… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: _In its present form_ the latter is certainly posterior to the Grail romances, but it is quite possible that the matter with which it deals represents a tradition older than the Arthurian story. Who acts: _, story, matter. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Ro
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 9, sentence 77

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\_In its present form\_ the latter is certainly posterior to the Grail romances, but it is quite possible that the matter with which it deals represents a tradition older than the Arthurian story.

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**Who acts:** \_, story, matter · **What happens:** be, romance, deal, represent, form · **To what, where:** older

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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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (\_, story, matter), 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:pg66084:9:77
# text = _In its present form_ the latter is certainly posterior to the Grail romances, but it is quite possible that the matter with which it deals represents a tradition older than the Arthurian story.
1	_	_	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	In	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	11	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	posterior	posterior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Grail	grail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
15	romances	romance	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obl	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	deals	deal	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	represents	represent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	obj	_	_
33	than	than	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	Arthurian	Arthurian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | \_ in story's present form |  |  |  |  | certainly, posterior *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **romance** | present |  |  |  |  |  | to the Grail | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | story |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **deal** | present | story |  |  |  |  | with the matter | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with which=Theme |
| 5 | **represent** | present | the matter | older  a tradition than the Arthurian story |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot old=Theme |
| 6 | **form** |  | story |  |  |  |  |  | nom form «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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