---
title: Suddenly she was startled by hearing another sound—a strange, unusua… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Suddenly she was startled by hearing another sound—a strange, unusual noise, a clamor as of the voices of many people all trying to speak at once, all trying to make themselves heard. Who acts: all, people. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Triumph of Mu
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Triumph of Music, sentence 20

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Suddenly she was startled by hearing another sound—a strange, unusual noise, a clamor as of the voices of many people all trying to speak at once, all trying to make themselves heard.

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**Who acts:** all, people · **What happens:** startle, hear, try, speak, make · **To what, where:** sound, people · **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 Triumph of Music. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (all, people), 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:pg66819:35:20
# text = Suddenly she was startled by hearing another sound—a strange, unusual noise, a clamor as of the voices of many people all trying to speak at once, all trying to make themselves heard.
1	Suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	unusual	unusual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	clamor	clamor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	21	case	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	fixed	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	voices	voice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
25	all	all	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	trying	try	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	appos	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	nsubj	_	_
33	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	parataxis	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	35	obj	_	_
37	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **startle** | past · passive |  | sound |  |  |  | a strange unusual noise *parataxis*; suddenly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **hear** | gerund |  | another sound |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 3 | **try** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **try** | gerund | all |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | all *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **hear** *not said to happen* | participle | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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