---
title: He stroked his chin, he tapped his forehead with his forefinger; no… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: He stroked his chin, he tapped his forehead with his forefinger; no word of magic, not even the shortest, could he call to memory. Who acts: vessel. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Unfinished Boat, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 119

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He stroked his chin, he tapped his forehead with his forefinger; no word of magic, not even the shortest, could he call to memory.

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**Who acts:** vessel · **What happens:** stroke, tap, call, word · **To what, where:** chin, forehead, memory, magic · **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 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 (vessel), 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:pg66819:13:119
# text = He stroked his chin, he tapped his forehead with his forefinger; no word of magic, not even the shortest, could he call to memory.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stroked	stroke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	chin	chin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	tapped	tap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	forefinger	forefinger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
20	even	even	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	shortest	short	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	parataxis	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stroke** | past | vessel | vessel's chin |  |  |  | no word of magic *obl* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chin=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tap** | past | vessel | vessel's forehead |  |  |  | with vessel's forefinger | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent forehead=Patient with forefinger=Instrument |
| 3 | **call** | could | vessel |  | memory |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to memory=Recipient |
| 4 | **word** |  |  | magic |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication 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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