---
title: Then he climbed the tall cliff and split the sandstone with his fing… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he climbed the tall cliff and split the sandstone with his fingers; and next he leaped upon the river of ice beneath him and cut therefrom a slender whipstock, losing not the smallest fragment. Who acts: hero. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Maid 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Maid of Beauty, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he climbed the tall cliff and split the sandstone with his fingers; and next he leaped upon the river of ice beneath him and cut therefrom a slender whipstock, losing not the smallest fragment.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hero · **What happens:** climb, split, leap, cut, lose · **To what, where:** tall cliff, sandstone, river, slender whipstock, smallest fragment

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Maid of Beauty. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hero), 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:pg66819:3:65
# text = Then he climbed the tall cliff and split the sandstone with his fingers; and next he leaped upon the river of ice beneath him and cut therefrom a slender whipstock, losing not the smallest fragment.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	split	split	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sandstone	sandstone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	next	next	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	leaped	leap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
28	therefrom	therefrom	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	whipstock	whipstock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	37	amod	_	_
37	fragment	fragment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb** | past | hero | the tall cliff |  |  | then |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location cliff=Theme |
| 2 | **split** | past | hero *not said here* | the sandstone |  |  |  | with hero's fingers | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent sandstone=Patient with finger=Instrument |
| 3 | **leap** | past | hero |  |  | the river of ice |  | beneath Minstrel; next *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon river=Trajectory |
| 4 | **cut** | past | hero *not said here* | a slender whipstock |  |  |  | therefrom *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset whipstock=Product |
| 5 | **lose** | gerund | hero *not said here* | the smallest fragment |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fragment=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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