---
title: Thus, ere long, it came about that the two friends were constantly a… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Thus, ere long, it came about that the two friends were constantly and forever recalling the sweetest memories of their lives—memories which, strange to say, were also mingled with thoughts of experiences that had been unpleasant, painful, humiliating. Who acts: subject, two friends, experiences. A 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 18

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Thus, ere long, it came about that the two friends were constantly and forever recalling the sweetest memories of their lives—memories which, strange to say, were also mingled with thoughts of experiences that had been unpleasant, painful, humiliating.

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**Who acts:** subject, two friends, experiences · **What happens:** come, recall, say, mingle, be, humiliate · **To what, where:** sweetest memories, experiences · **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 (subject, two friends, experiences), 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:pg66819:13:18
# text = Thus, ere long, it came about that the two friends were constantly and forever recalling the sweetest memories of their lives—memories which, strange to say, were also mingled with thoughts of experiences that had been unpleasant, painful, humiliating.
1	Thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	ere	ere	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
14	constantly	constantly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	forever	forever	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	recalling	recall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	sweetest	sweet	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	memories	memory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	memories	memory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	acl:relcl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
33	also	also	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	mingled	mingle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	experiences	experience	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
42	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	painful	painful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	humiliating	humiliate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | subject |  |  |  |  | memories *conj*; long, thus *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **recall** | past · progressive | the two friends | the sweetest memories of memories's lives |  |  |  | constantly, forever *property* | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent memory=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | subject *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **mingle** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | with thoughts of experiences | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V PP.co-patient»: with thought=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past · perfect | experiences |  |  |  |  | unpleasant *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | experiences *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **humiliate** | gerund | experiences *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **think** |  |  | experiences |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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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