---
title: And he repeated to himself his favorite saying: “None but cowards sa… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: And he repeated to himself his favorite saying: “None but cowards say, ‘I cannot,’ none but weaklings say, ‘Impossible,’ none but women weep for failure.” Who acts: head, None. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Caldron, sentence 141

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And he repeated to himself his favorite saying: “None but cowards say, ‘I cannot,’ none but weaklings say, ‘Impossible,’ none but women weep for failure.”

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**Who acts:** head, None · **What happens:** repeat, say, ', weep · **To what, where:** favorite saying, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head, None), 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:pg66819:10:141
# text = And he repeated to himself his favorite saying: “None but cowards say, ‘I cannot,’ none but weaklings say, ‘Impossible,’ none but women weep for failure.”
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	favorite	favorite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	None	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	14	nsubj	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	cowards	coward	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
14	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’	'	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
22	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	25	nsubj	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	weaklings	weakling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	_
25	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
31	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	34	nsubj	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
34	weep	weep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	failure	failure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repeat** | past | head | head's favorite saying | head |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent saying=Topic to himself=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | None  cowards |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **'** *in a quote* | can |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | none  weaklings |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **weep** *in a quote* | present | none  women |  |  |  |  | for failure | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **say** |  | head |  |  |  |  |  | nom saying «communication transitive»: poss=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:** «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (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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