---
title: Therefore were the gallant knights slow to answer, and gazed astound… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore were the gallant knights slow to answer, and gazed astounded, and sat stone still in a deep silence through that goodly hall, as if a slumber were fallen upon them. Who acts: gallant knights. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Moder
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 2, sentence 27

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Therefore were the gallant knights slow to answer, and gazed astounded, and sat stone still in a deep silence through that goodly hall, as if a slumber were fallen upon them.

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**Who acts:** gallant knights · **What happens:** be, slow, answer, gaze, astound, sit · **To what, where:** gallant knights, stone, deep silence, slumber

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gallant knights), 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:pg66084:2:27
# text = Therefore were the gallant knights slow to answer, and gazed astounded, and sat stone still in a deep silence through that goodly hall, as if a slumber were fallen upon them.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	gallant	gallant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	slow	slow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	gazed	gaze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
12	astounded	astound	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
16	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	still	still	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
22	through	through	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
24	goodly	goodly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	slumber	slumber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
33	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the gallant knights |  |  |  | therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **slow** | present | the gallant knights |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the gallant knights *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **gaze** | past | the gallant knights *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **astound** | participle | the gallant knights *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **sit** | past |  | stone |  | a deep silence | still | through that goodly hall | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent stone=Theme in silence=Location |
| 7 | **fall** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | a slumber |  |  |  | upon stones *= stone* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: subject=Result |

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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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