---
title: On each of his shoulders an aspen tree was growing; his eyebrows wer… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: On each of his shoulders an aspen tree was growing; his eyebrows were groves of birches; willow bushes formed his matted beard. Who acts: aspen tree, eyebrows, willow bushes. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Wisdom Keeper, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Wisdom Keeper, sentence 73

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On each of his shoulders an aspen tree was growing; his eyebrows were groves of birches; willow bushes formed his matted beard.

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**Who acts:** aspen tree, eyebrows, willow bushes · **What happens:** grow, be, form, mat · **To what, where:** shoulders, groves, matted beard

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Wisdom Keeper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (aspen tree, eyebrows, willow bushes), 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:pg66819:17:73
# text = On each of his shoulders an aspen tree was growing; his eyebrows were groves of birches; willow bushes formed his matted beard.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	13	det	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	aspen	aspen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	eyebrows	eyebrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	groves	grove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	birches	birch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	willow	willow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	bushes	bush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	matted	mat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past · progressive | a aspen tree | planter's shoulders *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location shoulder=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | planter's eyebrows | groves |  |  |  | of birches | tree rules |
| 3 | **form** | past | willow bushes | planter's matted beard |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location beard=Theme |
| 4 | **mat** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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