---
title: Like an old and skilled seaman, the Minstrel suddenly changed his ve… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Like an old and skilled seaman, the Minstrel suddenly changed his vessel’s course, veering sharply towards the west in order to pass round the low-lying barrier. Who acts: Minstrel. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Maid of the Morning, with its dependen
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Maid of the Morning, sentence 3

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Like an old and skilled seaman, the Minstrel suddenly changed his vessel’s course, veering sharply towards the west in order to pass round the low-lying barrier.

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**Who acts:** Minstrel · **What happens:** change, veer, pass, lie · **To what, where:** course, west, lying barrier

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Maid of the Morning. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minstrel), 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:pg66819:19:3
# text = Like an old and skilled seaman, the Minstrel suddenly changed his vessel’s course, veering sharply towards the west in order to pass round the low-lying barrier.
1	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	skilled	skilled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
6	seaman	seaman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	veering	veer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
18	sharply	sharply	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
26	round	round	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
28	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	amod	_	_
31	barrier	barrier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past | the Minstrel | Minstrel's vessel's course |  |  |  | like a old seaman; suddenly *property* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent course=Patient |
| 2 | **veer** | gerund | the Minstrel *not said here* |  |  | the west in order |  | sharply *property* | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards west=Location |
| 3 | **pass** | to-infinitive | the Minstrel *not said here* |  |  | the lying barrier |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme round barrier=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **lie** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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