---
title: Never can my task be finished unless I can find the three words of p… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Never can my task be finished unless I can find the three words of power that are lacking. Who acts: I, power, my. 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 clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 122

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Never can my task be finished unless I can find the three words of power that are lacking.

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**Who acts:** I, power, my · **What happens:** not finish, find, lack, task, word · **To what, where:** task, three words, power

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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 (I, power, my), 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:pg66819:13:122
# text = Never can my task be finished unless I can find the three words of power that are lacking.
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	lacking	lack	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **finish** | can · passive |  | my task |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen* | can | I | the three words of power |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 3 | **lack** | present · progressive | power |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **task** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent |
| 5 | **word** |  |  | power |  |  |  |  | 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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