---
title: It was the signal by which the mistress and her milkmaids would know… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the signal by which the mistress and her milkmaids would know that the cows had been brought home and were ready for the milking. Who acts: whistle, mistress. 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
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Slave Boy, sentence 155

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It was the signal by which the mistress and her milkmaids would know that the cows had been brought home and were ready for the milking.

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**Who acts:** whistle, mistress · **What happens:** be, know, bring · **To what, where:** signal, cows · **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 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 (whistle, mistress), 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:pg66819:29:155
# text = It was the signal by which the mistress and her milkmaids would know that the cows had been brought home and were ready for the milking.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	signal	signal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mistress	mistress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	milkmaids	milkmaid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
20	home	home	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	milking	milking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | whistle | the signal |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | would | the mistress and cook's milkmaids |  |  |  |  | by the signal | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive |  | the cows |  |  |  | home *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Destination |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for the milking; ready *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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