---
title: When any work was given him to do he was sure to spoil it; he could… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: When any work was given him to do he was sure to spoil it; he could not be trusted, he seemed to be unfit for any duty. Who acts: slave. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Slave Boy, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Slave Boy, sentence 10

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When any work was given him to do he was sure to spoil it; he could not be trusted, he seemed to be unfit for any duty.

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**Who acts:** slave · **What happens:** give, do, be, spoil, not trust, seem · **To what, where:** work, slave

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Slave Boy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slave), 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:pg66819:29:10
# text = When any work was given him to do he was sure to spoil it; he could not be trusted, he seemed to be unfit for any duty.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	advcl	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	spoil	spoil	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	trusted	trust	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	cop	_	_
26	unfit	unfit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	29	det	_	_
29	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · passive |  | any work | slave |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | slave |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spoil** | to-infinitive | slave *not said here* | work |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **trust** | could · passive |  | slave |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **seem** | past | slave |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | to-infinitive | slave *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for any duty; unfit *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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