---
title: Gently he began to sing, softly he chanted a song so sweet, so stron… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Gently he began to sing, softly he chanted a song so sweet, so strong, that it had power to move the rocks and even persuade the mighty hills and the restless sea. Who acts: hero, song, power. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Flight, with its dependency
---

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

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Gently he began to sing, softly he chanted a song so sweet, so strong, that it had power to move the rocks and even persuade the mighty hills and the restless sea.

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**Who acts:** hero, song, power · **What happens:** begin, sing, chant, have, move, persuade · **To what, where:** song, power, rocks, mighty hills

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Flight. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hero, song, power), 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:pg66819:36:20
# text = Gently he began to sing, softly he chanted a song so sweet, so strong, that it had power to move the rocks and even persuade the mighty hills and the restless sea.
1	Gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	chanted	chant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
21	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	even	even	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	restless	restless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | hero |  |  |  |  | gently *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | hero *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **chant** | past | hero | a song |  |  |  | softly, sweet *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent song=Topic |
| 4 | **have** | past | song | power |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **move** | to-infinitive | power *not said here* | the rocks |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent rock=Theme |
| 6 | **persuade** | infinitive | power *not said here* | the mighty hills and the restless sea |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hill=Patient |

<!-- .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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