---
title: “None but women say ‘I cannot’; none but cowards say ‘I dare not,’”… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “None but women say ‘I cannot’; none but cowards say ‘I dare not,’” he repeated to himself again and again as though he would bolster up his courage. Who acts: None, maiden. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Unfinished Boat, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Unfinished Boat, sentence 32

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“None but women say ‘I cannot’; none but cowards say ‘I dare not,’” he repeated to himself again and again as though he would bolster up his courage.

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**Who acts:** None, maiden · **What happens:** say, not ', not dare, repeat, bolster up · **To what, where:** maiden, courage · **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 (None, maiden), 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:pg66819:13:32
# text = “None but women say ‘I cannot’; none but cowards say ‘I dare not,’” he repeated to himself again and again as though he would bolster up his courage.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	None	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	5	nsubj	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
12	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	15	nsubj	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	cowards	coward	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
15	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
16	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	dare	dare	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obl	_	_
27	again	again	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	again	again	ADV	RB	_	27	conj	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
31	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	bolster	bolster	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
35	up	up	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | None  women |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **'** *in a quote* | can | None  women *= none* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | none  cowards |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **dare** *in a quote* | present | None  women *= none* |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **repeat** | past | maiden |  | maiden |  | again; again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 6 | **bolster up** | would | maiden | maiden's courage |  |  |  |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot courage=Theme |

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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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