Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 7, sentence 13
Then the lord drew out his shining brand, and cast it at the beast, and the fox swerved aside for the sharp edge, and would have doubled back, but a hound was on him ere he might turn, and right before the horse’s feet they all fell on him, and worried him fiercely, snarling the while.
Who acts: lord, fox, hound, hounds · What happens: draw out, shine, cast, swerve, double back, be · To what, where: shining brand, brand, beast, feet, lord
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 (lord, fox, hound, hounds), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 drew | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 lord | det |
| 3 | lord | lord | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 drew | nsubj |
| 4 | drew | draw | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | out | out | ADP | _ | 4 drew | compound:prt |
| 6 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 brand | nmod:poss |
| 7 | shining | shine | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 8 brand | amod |
| 8 | brand | brand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 drew | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 cast | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 cast | cc |
| 11 | cast | cast | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 drew | conj |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 cast | obj |
| 13 | at | at | ADP | _ | 15 beast | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 beast | det |
| 15 | beast | beast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 cast | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 swerved | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 swerved | cc |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 fox | det |
| 19 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 swerved | nsubj |
| 20 | swerved | swerve | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 drew | conj |
| 21 | aside | aside | ADV | _ | 20 swerved | advmod |
| 22 | for | for | ADP | _ | 25 edge | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 edge | det |
| 24 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 edge | amod |
| 25 | edge | edge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 swerved | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 doubled | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 doubled | cc |
| 28 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 doubled | aux |
| 29 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 doubled | aux |
| 30 | doubled | double | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 20 swerved | conj |
| 31 | back | back | ADV | _ | 30 doubled | advmod |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 turn | punct |
| 33 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 42 turn | cc |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 hound | det |
| 35 | hound | hound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 turn | nsubj |
| 36 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 turn | cop |
| 37 | on | on | ADP | _ | 38 him | case |
| 38 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 was | obl |
| 39 | ere | ere | ADV | _ | 42 turn | advmod |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 turn | nsubj |
| 41 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 turn | aux |
| 42 | turn | turn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 drew | conj |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 feet | punct |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 feet | cc |
| 45 | right | right | ADV | _ | 50 feet | advmod |
| 46 | before | before | ADP | _ | 50 feet | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 horse | det |
| 48 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 feet | nmod:poss |
| 49 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 48 horse | case |
| 50 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 drew | conj |
| 51 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 53 fell | nsubj |
| 52 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 53 fell | advmod |
| 53 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 50 feet | acl:relcl |
| 54 | on | on | ADP | _ | 55 him | case |
| 55 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 53 fell | obl |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 58 worried | punct |
| 57 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 58 worried | cc |
| 58 | worried | worry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 drew | conj |
| 59 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 58 worried | obj |
| 60 | fiercely | fiercely | ADV | _ | 58 worried | advmod |
| 61 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 62 snarling | punct |
| 62 | snarling | snarl | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 58 worried | advcl |
| 63 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 64 while | det |
| 64 | while | while | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 snarling | obj |
| 65 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 drew | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draw out | past | the lord | lord's shining brand | then | the horse's feet conj | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brand=Theme | ||
| 2 | shine | gerund | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 3 | cast | past | the lord not said here | brand | the beast | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme at beast=Destination | |||
| 4 | swerve | past | the fox | for the sharp edge; aside property | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | double back | would · perfect | the fox not said here | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | |||||
| 6 | is | might · past | a hound | fox nsubj; ere, turn property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | fall | past | hounds = hound | the horse's feet not said here | on lord | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient foot=Result | |||
| 8 | worry | past | the lord not said here | lord | fiercely property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer | |||
| 9 | snarl | gerund | the lord not said here | while | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 10 | brand | lord | nom brand «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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.
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/7/13/