--- title: And the Minstrel would begin with a hymn of creation, or a tale of m… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics description: And the Minstrel would begin with a hymn of creation, or a tale of mighty strife and heroism; but at the end of the strain he would forget his subject and begin to chant a ballad of love or a ditty recounting the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola. Who acts: Minstrel, mind, ditty, creation. A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/13/17/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old No…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/) / [The Unfinished Boat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/13/) / 17 # The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 17 And the Minstrel would begin with a hymn of creation, or a tale of mighty strife and heroism; but at the end of the strain he would forget his subject and begin to chant a ballad of love or a ditty recounting the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola. **Who acts:** Minstrel, mind, ditty, creation, mighty strife · **What happens:** begin, forget, chant, recount, hymn, tell · **To what, where:** subject, end, ballad, charms · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, mind, ditty, creation), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66819:13:17 # text = And the Minstrel would begin with a hymn of creation, or a tale of mighty strife and heroism; but at the end of the strain he would forget his subject and begin to chant a ballad of love or a ditty recounting the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Minstrel Minstrel PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 4 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 begin begin VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 6 with with ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 hymn hymn NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 creation creation NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 12 or or CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 strife strife NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 heroism heroism NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT : _ 30 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 22 at at ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 strain strain NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 29 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 forget forget VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 31 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 subject subject NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 34 begin begin VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 chant chant VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 ballad ballad NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 love love NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 41 or or CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 ditty ditty NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 conj _ _ 44 recounting recount VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 43 acl _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 charms charm NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obj _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 49 matchless matchless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 50 amod _ _ 50 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ _ 51 of of ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 52 Pohyola Pohyola PROPN NNP Number=Sing 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | would | the Minstrel | | | | | with a hymn of creation or a tale of mighty strife and heroism | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with hymn=Subeventuality | | 2 | **forget** | would | mind | mind's subject | | | at the end of the strain | | tree rules | | 3 | **begin** | present | mind *not said here* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **chant** | to-infinitive | mind *not said here* | a ballad of love or a ditty | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ballad=Topic | | 5 | **recount** *speech: other* | gerund | a ditty *not said here* | the charms of the matchless maiden of Pohyola | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent charm=Topic | | 6 | **hymn** | | creation | | | | | | nom hymn «communication intransitive»: of=agent | | 7 | **tell** | | mighty strife and heroism | | | | | | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/13/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/13/18/) - ↑ back to [The Unfinished Boat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/13/)