---
title: You need not inquire the way nor ask about the road—you cannot fail… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: You need not inquire the way nor ask about the road—you cannot fail to find it; and sooner or later you must walk in it, whether you wish or not. Who acts: You. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Land of Tuonela, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Land of Tuonela, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
You need not inquire the way nor ask about the road—you cannot fail to find it; and sooner or later you must walk in it, whether you wish or not.

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**Who acts:** You · **What happens:** not inquire, ask, not fail, find, walk, wish · **To what, where:** way, road

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Land of Tuonela. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (You), 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:pg66819:14:13
# text = You need not inquire the way nor ask about the road—you cannot fail to find it; and sooner or later you must walk in it, whether you wish or not.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	need	need	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	inquire	inquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	8	cc	_	_
8	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
9	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	27	advmod	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	22	conj	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **inquire** *speech: other* | present | You | the way |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent way=Recipient |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive | You *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about the road | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.topic whether S»: agent=Agent about road=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **fail** | can | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **find** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | way |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 5 | **walk** | must | you |  |  | road |  | soon *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in it=Trajectory |
| 6 | **wish** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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