---
title: I understand,” answered the woman; and she closed her toothless jaws… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: I understand,” answered the woman; and she closed her toothless jaws tightly, restraining her anger. Who acts: I, woman. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Homesick Hero, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Homesick Hero, sentence 73

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I understand,” answered the woman; and she closed her toothless jaws tightly, restraining her anger.

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**Who acts:** I, woman · **What happens:** understand, answer, close, restrain, anger · **To what, where:** woman, toothless jaws, anger · **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 Homesick Hero. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, woman), 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:pg66819:12:73
# text = I understand,” answered the woman; and she closed her toothless jaws tightly, restraining her anger.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	understand	understand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	closed	close	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	toothless	toothless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
15	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	restraining	restrain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  |  | the woman |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent woman=Eventuality |
| 3 | **close** *in a quote* | past | woman | woman's toothless jaws |  |  |  | tightly *property* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jaw=Patient |
| 4 | **restrain** *in a quote* | gerund | woman *not said here* | woman's anger |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer anger=Eventuality |
| 5 | **anger** *in a quote* |  | woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom anger «feeling intransitive»: 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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