---
title: The walls were set deep in the water, and rose aloft to a wondrous h… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: The walls were set deep in the water, and rose aloft to a wondrous height; they were of hard hewn stone up to the corbels, which were adorned beneath the battlements with fair carvings, and turrets set in between with many a loophole; a better barbican Sir Gawain had never looked upon. Who acts: wal
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 4, sentence 3

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The walls were set deep in the water, and rose aloft to a wondrous height; they were of hard hewn stone up to the corbels, which were adorned beneath the battlements with fair carvings, and turrets set in between with many a loophole; a better barbican Sir Gawain had never looked upon.

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**Who acts:** walls · **What happens:** set, rise, be, adorn, not look · **To what, where:** walls, water, wondrous height, corbels, turrets, better barbican

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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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (walls), 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:pg66084:4:3
# text = The walls were set deep in the water, and rose aloft to a wondrous height; they were of hard hewn stone up to the corbels, which were adorned beneath the battlements with fair carvings, and turrets set in between with many a loophole; a better barbican Sir Gawain had never looked upon.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	aloft	aloft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	wondrous	wondrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	hewn	hewn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
24	up	up	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	corbels	corbel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	adorned	adorn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	battlements	battlement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	carvings	carving	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	turrets	turret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
41	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	acl	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	obl	_	_
43	between	between	ADP	IN	_	42	fixed	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	loophole	loophole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	56	punct	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	51	amod	_	_
51	barbican	barbican	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj:pass	_	_
52	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	appos	_	_
53	Gawain	Gawain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	52	flat	_	_
54	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
55	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	56	advmod	_	_
56	looked	look	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
57	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | past · passive |  | the walls |  | the water |  | deep *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in water=Destination |
| 2 | **rise** | past |  |  |  | a wondrous height |  | aloft *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to height=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | walls *= wall* |  |  |  |  | of hard hewn stone and the corbels; the corbels *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **adorn** | past · passive |  | the corbels |  |  |  | beneath the battlements with fair carvings; turrets *conj* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination |
| 5 | **set** | participle |  | turrets *not said here* |  |  |  | with a many loophole | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with loophole=Instrument |
| 6 | **not** **look** | past · perfect · passive |  | a better barbican |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |

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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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