---
title: Then the lord did his best to persuade the knight to tarry with him,… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the lord did his best to persuade the knight to tarry with him, but Gawain answered that he might in no wise do so. Who acts: lord, Gawain, wise. 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, with
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 4, sentence 78

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Then the lord did his best to persuade the knight to tarry with him, but Gawain answered that he might in no wise do so.

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**Who acts:** lord, Gawain, wise · **What happens:** do, persuade, tarry, answer · **To what, where:** best, knight

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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 (lord, Gawain, wise), 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:pg66084:4:78
# text = Then the lord did his best to persuade the knight to tarry with him, but Gawain answered that he might in no wise do so.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	tarry	tarry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	Gawain	Gawain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	nsubj	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the lord | lord's best |  |  | then |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 2 | **persuade** | to-infinitive | the lord *not said here* | the knight |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knight=Patient |
| 3 | **tarry** | to-infinitive | the lord *not said here* | the knight *not said here* |  |  |  | with lord | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Gawain |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** | present | no wise |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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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