---
title: His sledge was standing beside the door; the fleet-footed racer was… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: His sledge was standing beside the door; the fleet-footed racer was pawing the ground; the cuckoos were calling, and the bluebirds were singing. Who acts: sledge, footed racer, cuckoos, bluebirds. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Field of Serpents, with
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Field of Serpents, sentence 43

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His sledge was standing beside the door; the fleet-footed racer was pawing the ground; the cuckoos were calling, and the bluebirds were singing.

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**Who acts:** sledge, footed racer, cuckoos, bluebirds · **What happens:** stand, paw, call, sing · **To what, where:** door, ground · **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 (sledge, footed racer, cuckoos, bluebirds), 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:pg66819:24:43
# text = His sledge was standing beside the door; the fleet-footed racer was pawing the ground; the cuckoos were calling, and the bluebirds were singing.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sledge	sledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
10	fleet	fleet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	footed	footed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	racer	racer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	pawing	paw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cuckoos	cuckoo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	bluebirds	bluebird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | Ilmarinen's sledge |  |  | the door |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent beside door=Location |
| 2 | **paw** | past · progressive | the footed racer | the ground |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Patient |
| 3 | **call** | past · progressive | the cuckoos |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | past · progressive | the bluebirds |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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