---
title: Three smooth holes still needed boring, three strong bolts still nee… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Three smooth holes still needed boring, three strong bolts still needed driving, three broad planks still needed fastening—and I lacked the three mystic words with which to do these things. Who acts: Three smooth holes, three strong bolts, three broad planks, I. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Ta
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Land of Tuonela, sentence 94

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Three smooth holes still needed boring, three strong bolts still needed driving, three broad planks still needed fastening—and I lacked the three mystic words with which to do these things.

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**Who acts:** Three smooth holes, three strong bolts, three broad planks, I · **What happens:** need, drive, fasten, lack, do · **To what, where:** three mystic words, things

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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 (Three smooth holes, three strong bolts, three broad planks, I), 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:pg66819:14:94
# text = Three smooth holes still needed boring, three strong bolts still needed driving, three broad planks still needed fastening—and I lacked the three mystic words with which to do these things.
1	Three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
2	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	boring	boring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bolts	bolt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	still	still	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	driving	drive	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
16	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	planks	plank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
18	still	still	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
20	fastening	fasten	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	lacked	lack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
26	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
27	mystic	mystic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	obl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl:relcl	_	_
33	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | Three smooth holes |  |  |  | still | boring *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **need** | past | three strong bolts |  |  |  | still |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **drive** *not said to happen* | gerund | three strong bolts *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **need** | past | three broad planks |  |  |  | still |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **fasten** *not said to happen* | gerund | three broad planks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **lack** | past | I | the three mystic words |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | this things |  |  |  | with the three mystic words | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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