---
title: “What are the stars that glitter so brightly above us when the night… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “What are the stars that glitter so brightly above us when the nights are clear?” asked the herdsmen. Who acts: stars, nights, herdsmen. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Caldron, sentence 16

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“What are the stars that glitter so brightly above us when the nights are clear?” asked the herdsmen.

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**Who acts:** stars, nights, herdsmen · **What happens:** be, glitter, ask · **To what, where:** stars · **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 (stars, nights, herdsmen), 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:pg66819:10:16
# text = “What are the stars that glitter so brightly above us when the nights are clear?” asked the herdsmen.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	glitter	glitter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	brightly	brightly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	above	above	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
19	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	herdsmen	herdsman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the stars |  |  |  | What *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **glitter** *in a quote* | present | the stars |  |  |  |  | above us; brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme above we=Location |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the nights |  |  |  |  | clear *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the herdsmen |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «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:** «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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