---
title: Before them was the bare ground, sloping gently towards the shore an… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Before them was the bare ground, sloping gently towards the shore and the smooth gray surface of the little inlet; above them was the cloud-flecked sky, cold and cheerless, without sign of bird or other living creature. Who acts: three, bare ground. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Bridegroom’s Triumph, sentence 37

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Before them was the bare ground, sloping gently towards the shore and the smooth gray surface of the little inlet; above them was the cloud-flecked sky, cold and cheerless, without sign of bird or other living creature.

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**Who acts:** three, bare ground · **What happens:** be, slope, fleck, live, sign · **To what, where:** bare ground, flecked sky, bird

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Bridegroom’s Triumph. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three, bare ground), 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:pg66819:26:37
# text = Before them was the bare ground, sloping gently towards the shore and the smooth gray surface of the little inlet; above them was the cloud-flecked sky, cold and cheerless, without sign of bird or other living creature.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	sloping	slope	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
9	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	gray	gray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	surface	surface	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	inlet	inlet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
23	above	above	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
27	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	flecked	fleck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	amod	_	_
30	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	cheerless	cheerless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	without	without	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	amod	_	_
43	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | three | the bare ground |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **slope** | gerund | the bare ground *not said here* |  |  |  |  | towards the shore and the smooth gray surface of the little inlet; gently *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **fleck** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | cloud *compound* | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | three |  |  | the flecked sky and sign of bird or other living creature |  | sign of bird or other living creature *conj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **live** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **sign** |  |  | bird or other living creature |  |  |  |  | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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