---
title: When he raised his helmet there were many to take it from his hand,… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: When he raised his helmet there were many to take it from his hand, fain to serve him, and they took from him sword and shield. Who acts: guest, many, men. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose» by Jessie L. Weston, Opening, part 4,
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/4/16/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Mid…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/) / [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/4/) / 16

# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 4, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he raised his helmet there were many to take it from his hand, fain to serve him, and they took from him sword and shield.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** guest, many, men · **What happens:** raise, be, take, serve · **To what, where:** helmet, hand, guest, sword

<!-- .vabout -->
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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (guest, many, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66084:4:16
# text = When he raised his helmet there were many to take it from his hand, fain to serve him, and they took from him sword and shield.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	raised	raise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	helmet	helmet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	nsubj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	from	from	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	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	fain	fain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	_
26	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	shield	shield	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **raise** | past | guest | guest's helmet |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent helmet=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | past | many |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **take** | to-infinitive | many *not said here* | helmet |  | guest's hand |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent it=Theme from hand=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **serve** | to-infinitive | many *not said here* | guest |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Attribute |
| 5 | **take** | past | men *= man* | sword and shield |  |  |  | from guest | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent sword=Theme from he=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/4/15/)
- next →: [sentence 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/4/17/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66084/4/)