---
title: They betook them to the heights, but the liers in wait turned them b… — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-Englis… · tree and pragmatics
description: They betook them to the heights, but the liers in wait turned them back with loud cries; the harts they let pass them, and the stags with their spreading antlers, for the lord had forbidden that they should be slain, but the hinds and the does they turned back, and drave down into the valleys. Who a
---

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# Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, Opening, part 5, sentence 22

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They betook them to the heights, but the liers in wait turned them back with loud cries; the harts they let pass them, and the stags with their spreading antlers, for the lord had forbidden that they should be slain, but the hinds and the does they turned back, and drave down into the valleys.

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**Who acts:** trackers, liers, harts · **What happens:** betake, turn back, let, pass, forbid, be · **To what, where:** hunters, stags, valleys

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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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trackers, liers, harts), 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:pg66084:5:22
# text = They betook them to the heights, but the liers in wait turned them back with loud cries; the harts they let pass them, and the stags with their spreading antlers, for the lord had forbidden that they should be slain, but the hinds and the does they turned back, and drave down into the valleys.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	betook	betake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	heights	height	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	liers	lier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	wait	wait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	harts	hart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
24	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	stags	stag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	spreading	spreading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	antlers	antler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
44	slain	slain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	hinds	hind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	conj	_	_
51	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	conj	_	_
52	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	ccomp	_	_
54	back	back	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	drave	drave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	conj	_	_
58	down	down	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
59	into	into	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	valleys	valley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **betake** | past | trackers *= tracker* | hunters *= hunter* |  |  |  | to the heights | tree rules |
| 2 | **turn back** | past | the liers in wait | hunters *= hunter* |  |  |  | with loud cries | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **let** | past | the harts |  |  |  |  | trackers *= tracker* *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **pass** | infinitive | the harts *not said here* | hunters *= hunter* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Trajectory |
| 5 | **forbid** | past · perfect · passive |  | the stags with trackers's spreading antlers |  |  |  | the hinds *obl*; the lord *nsubj* | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | should | trackers *= tracker* |  |  |  |  | slain *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **turn back** | past | trackers *= tracker* |  |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **drave down** | infinitive | trackers *= tracker* *not said here* |  |  | the valleys |  | down *property* | tree rules |

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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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