---
title: “He is composing some new, sweet song,” said the motherly matron; an… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “He is composing some new, sweet song,” said the motherly matron; and she refrained from disturbing him. Who acts: maiden, some, motherly matron, Dame. 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 ever
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 29

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“He is composing some new, sweet song,” said the motherly matron; and she refrained from disturbing him.

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**Who acts:** maiden, some, motherly matron, Dame · **What happens:** compose, song, say, refrain, disturb · **To what, where:** maiden · **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 (maiden, some, motherly matron, Dame), 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:pg66819:13:29
# text = “He is composing some new, sweet song,” said the motherly matron; and she refrained from disturbing him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	composing	compose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	nsubj	_	_
6	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	motherly	motherly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	matron	matron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	refrained	refrain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	disturbing	disturb	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	advcl	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compose** *in a quote* | present · progressive | maiden |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **song** *in a quote* |  | some |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the motherly matron |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **refrain** | past | Dame |  |  |  |  |  | vn refrain-69 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **disturb** | gerund | Dame *not said here* | maiden |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

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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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