---
title: Then he smote the steed with his spurs, and sprang on his way, so th… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he smote the steed with his spurs, and sprang on his way, so that sparks flew from the stones after him. Who acts: Sir, sparks. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tr
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 3, sentence 62

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Then he smote the steed with his spurs, and sprang on his way, so that sparks flew from the stones after him.

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**Who acts:** Sir, sparks · **What happens:** smite, spring, fly, spur · **To what, where:** steed, way, stones

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sir, sparks), 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:pg66084:3:62
# text = Then he smote the steed with his spurs, and sprang on his way, so that sparks flew from the stones after him.
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	smote	smite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	steed	steed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	spurs	spur	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	19	mark	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	sparks	spark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	after	after	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smite** | past | Sir | the steed |  |  | then | with Sir's spurs | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent steed=Patient with spur=Instrument |
| 2 | **spring** | past |  |  |  | Sir's way |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on way=Trajectory |
| 3 | **fly** | past | sparks |  |  | the stones | after Sir |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from stone=Trajectory |
| 4 | **spur** |  | Sir |  |  |  |  |  | nom spur «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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