---
title: The wheels of the mill were whirring softly, its levers were moving… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The wheels of the mill were whirring softly, its levers were moving in their places; it was grinding out riches for Pohyola. Who acts: wheels, levers, cave. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Flight, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Flight, sentence 27

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The wheels of the mill were whirring softly, its levers were moving in their places; it was grinding out riches for Pohyola.

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**Who acts:** wheels, levers, cave · **What happens:** whir, move, grind out · **To what, where:** places, riches

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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 (wheels, levers, cave), 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:pg66819:36:27
# text = The wheels of the mill were whirring softly, its levers were moving in their places; it was grinding out riches for Pohyola.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wheels	wheel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	whirring	whir	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	levers	lever	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	moving	move	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	parataxis	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	grinding	grind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	riches	rich	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Pohyola	Pohyola	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whir** | past · progressive | the wheels of the mill |  |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **move** | past · progressive | cave's levers |  |  | mill's places |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in place=Trajectory |
| 3 | **grind out** | past · progressive | cave | riches |  |  |  | for Pohyola | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent rich=Product for pohyola=Beneficiary |

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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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