---
title: They flew backwards and forwards, soared in circles, and paused with… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: They flew backwards and forwards, soared in circles, and paused with outstretched pinions, looking down to enjoy the wondrous melodies. Who acts: birds. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Triumph of Music, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Triumph of Music, sentence 76

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They flew backwards and forwards, soared in circles, and paused with outstretched pinions, looking down to enjoy the wondrous melodies.

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**Who acts:** birds · **What happens:** fly, soar, pause, look down, enjoy · **To what, where:** wondrous melodies

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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 (birds), 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:pg66819:35:76
# text = They flew backwards and forwards, soared in circles, and paused with outstretched pinions, looking down to enjoy the wondrous melodies.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	forwards	forwards	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	soared	soar	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	circles	circle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	paused	pause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	outstretched	outstretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	pinions	pinion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
18	down	down	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	enjoy	enjoy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	wondrous	wondrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	melodies	melody	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  | backwards *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **soar** | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in circles; forwards *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in circle=Attribute |
| 3 | **pause** | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with outstretched pinions | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **look down** | gerund | birds *= bird* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **enjoy** | to-infinitive | birds *= bird* *not said here* | the wondrous melodies |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer melody=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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