---
title: In that dismal, snowy country men had never needed iron; they had no… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: In that dismal, snowy country men had never needed iron; they had no tools save tools of fish-bone; they had no weapons save sticks and stones and fists and feet. Who acts: men, tools, weapons. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Caldron, with its dependen
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Caldron, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In that dismal, snowy country men had never needed iron; they had no tools save tools of fish-bone; they had no weapons save sticks and stones and fists and feet.

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**Who acts:** men, tools, weapons · **What happens:** not need, have, save · **To what, where:** iron, tools, sticks

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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 (men, tools, weapons), 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:pg66819:10:36
# text = In that dismal, snowy country men had never needed iron; they had no tools save tools of fish-bone; they had no weapons save sticks and stones and fists and feet.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
3	dismal	dismal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	snowy	snowy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	needed	need	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	tools	tool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	save	save	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
18	tools	tool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	weapons	weapon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	save	save	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
29	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	fists	fist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | past · perfect |  | iron |  |  |  | in dismal snowy country men  that | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot iron=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **save** | present | no tools | tools of fish bone |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tool=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **save** | present | no weapons | sticks and stones and fists and feet |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stick=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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