---
title: The Minstrel stood aghast—without three words more his boat could no… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The Minstrel stood aghast—without three words more his boat could not be launched; it could not be made water-tight; it would never skim the foam-capped waves of the northern seas. Who acts: Minstrel, three words, spell. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 118

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The Minstrel stood aghast—without three words more his boat could not be launched; it could not be made water-tight; it would never skim the foam-capped waves of the northern seas.

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**Who acts:** Minstrel, three words, spell · **What happens:** stand, not launch, not make, not skim, cap, wave · **To what, where:** boat, spell, capped waves, northern seas

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Unfinished Boat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minstrel, three words, spell), 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:pg66819:13:118
# text = The Minstrel stood aghast—without three words more his boat could not be launched; it could not be made water-tight; it would never skim the foam-capped waves of the northern seas.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	aghast	aghast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	without	without	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	15	advmod	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	launched	launch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
22	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	skim	skim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
31	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	capped	cap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	amod	_	_
34	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the Minstrel |  |  |  |  | without three words; aghast *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **launch** | could · passive | three words *not said here* | vessel's boat |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **make** | could · passive |  | spell |  |  |  | tight *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 4 | **not** **skim** | would | spell | the capped waves of the northern seas |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent wave=Source |
| 5 | **cap** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | foam *compound* | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **wave** |  |  | the northern seas |  |  |  |  | nom wave «event transitive»: of=patient |

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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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