---
title: The fisherman could see the oars rising and falling, he could see th… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The fisherman could see the oars rising and falling, he could see the rowers sitting upon the benches. Who acts: fisherman, oars, rowers. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Weeping Ship, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Weeping Ship, sentence 124

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The fisherman could see the oars rising and falling, he could see the rowers sitting upon the benches.

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**Who acts:** fisherman, oars, rowers · **What happens:** see, rise, fall, sit · **To what, where:** oars, rowers, benches

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Weeping Ship. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fisherman, oars, rowers), 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:pg66819:33:124
# text = The fisherman could see the oars rising and falling, he could see the rowers sitting upon the benches.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	oars	oar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	rowers	rower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	benches	bench	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | the fisherman | the oars |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer oar=Stimulus |
| 2 | **rise** | gerund | the oars *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fall** | gerund | the oars *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | could | fisherman | the rowers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rower=Stimulus |
| 5 | **sit** | gerund | the rowers *not said here* |  |  | the benches |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon bench=Location |

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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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