---
title: “But this task is different,” responded the Mistress, “and if you fa… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “But this task is different,” responded the Mistress, “and if you fail your life is endangered.” Who acts: task, different, you. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Field of Serpents, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Field of Serpents, sentence 25

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“But this task is different,” responded the Mistress, “and if you fail your life is endangered.”

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**Who acts:** task, different, you · **What happens:** be, respond, fail · **To what, where:** Mistress, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Field of Serpents. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (task, different, 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:pg66819:24:25
# text = “But this task is different,” responded the Mistress, “and if you fail your life is endangered.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	responded	respond	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Mistress	mistress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	fail	fail	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
18	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	endangered	endangered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | this task |  |  |  |  | different *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **respond** *speech: other* | past | different | the Mistress |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fail** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you | your life |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | endangered *property* | tree rules |

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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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