---
title: The sails hung useless from the mast; not a breath of air was stirri… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The sails hung useless from the mast; not a breath of air was stirring; scarcely a ripple could be seen on the face of the sea. Who acts: sails, breath. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Maid of the Morning, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Maid of the Morning, sentence 5

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The sails hung useless from the mast; not a breath of air was stirring; scarcely a ripple could be seen on the face of the sea.

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**Who acts:** sails, breath · **What happens:** hang, stir, see · **To what, where:** mast, ripple, face

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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 (sails, breath), 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:pg66819:19:5
# text = The sails hung useless from the mast; not a breath of air was stirring; scarcely a ripple could be seen on the face of the sea.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sails	sail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mast	mast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	stirring	stir	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	ripple	ripple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang** | past | the sails |  |  | the mast |  | useless *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **stir** | past · progressive | a breath of air |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **see** | could · passive |  | a ripple |  | the face of the sea |  | scarcely *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

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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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