---
title: If any escaped the wolves, they were seized by the bears; if any fle… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: If any escaped the wolves, they were seized by the bears; if any fled from the bears, they were devoured by the wolves. Who acts: any, bears, wolves. 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 135

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If any escaped the wolves, they were seized by the bears; if any fled from the bears, they were devoured by the wolves.

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**Who acts:** any, bears, wolves · **What happens:** escape, seize, flee, devour · **To what, where:** wolves, bears

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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 (any, bears, wolves), 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:pg66819:29:135
# text = If any escaped the wolves, they were seized by the bears; if any fled from the bears, they were devoured by the wolves.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	nsubj	_	_
3	escaped	escape	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	fled	flee	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	devoured	devour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **escape** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | any | the wolves |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme wolf=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **seize** | past · passive | the bears | wolves *= wolf* |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 3 | **flee** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | the bears *not said here* |  |  | the bears |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from bear=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **devour** | past · passive | the wolves | wolves *= wolf* |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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