---
title: And while he sat thus the serving men set up a table on trestles, an… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: And while he sat thus the serving men set up a table on trestles, and covered it with a fair white cloth, and set thereon salt-cellar, and napkin, and silver spoons; and the knight washed at his will, and set him down to meat. Who acts: fire, serving men, knight. A sentence of «Sir Gawain and the Gr
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 4, sentence 31

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And while he sat thus the serving men set up a table on trestles, and covered it with a fair white cloth, and set thereon salt-cellar, and napkin, and silver spoons; and the knight washed at his will, and set him down to meat.

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**Who acts:** fire, serving men, knight · **What happens:** sit, set up, cover, set, wash, set down · **To what, where:** serving men, table, trestles, salt cellar, fire

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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 (fire, serving men, knight), 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:pg66084:4:31
# text = And while he sat thus the serving men set up a table on trestles, and covered it with a fair white cloth, and set thereon salt-cellar, and napkin, and silver spoons; and the knight washed at his will, and set him down to meat.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	serving	serving	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
9	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	trestles	trestle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
27	thereon	thereon	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	cellar	cellar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	napkin	napkin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	silver	silver	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	spoons	spoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
43	at	at	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	advcl	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	down	down	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | fire | the serving men |  |  |  | napkin and silver spoons *obl*; thus *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location man=Theme |
| 2 | **set up** | participle | the serving men *not said here* | a table |  | trestles |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent table=Theme on trestle=Destination |
| 3 | **cover** | past | fire *not said here* | table |  |  |  | with a fair white cloth | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Destination with cloth=Theme |
| 4 | **set** | infinitive | fire *not said here* | salt cellar |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient cellar=Result |
| 5 | **wash** | past | the knight |  |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **set down** | infinitive | the knight *not said here* | fire |  |  |  | to meat | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient he=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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