---
title: Then he began to play softly upon the kantele; and as he played, the… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he began to play softly upon the kantele; and as he played, the Sampo began to rock to and fro, it turned itself around as though breaking away from the chains which held it. Who acts: boaster, Sampo, it, chains. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Fl
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Flight, sentence 38

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Then he began to play softly upon the kantele; and as he played, the Sampo began to rock to and fro, it turned itself around as though breaking away from the chains which held it.

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**Who acts:** boaster, Sampo, it, chains · **What happens:** begin, play, fro, turn around, break away, hold · **To what, where:** rock, kantele

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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 (boaster, Sampo, it, chains), 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:pg66819:36:38
# text = Then he began to play softly upon the kantele; and as he played, the Sampo began to rock to and fro, it turned itself around as though breaking away from the chains which held it.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	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	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kantele	kantele	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Sampo	Sampo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	fro	fro	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
27	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	_
28	around	around	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
29	as	as	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
30	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
32	away	away	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	chains	chain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
36	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj	_	_
37	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | boaster |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **play** | to-infinitive | boaster *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon the kantele; softly *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **play** | past | boaster |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **begin** | past | the Sampo | rock |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fro** | infinitive | the Sampo *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **turn around** | past | it | kantele |  |  |  | around *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V ADJ.result»: agent=Theme itself=Result |
| 7 | **break away** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | from the chains; away *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient from chain=Co-Patient |
| 8 | **hold** | past | the chains | kantele |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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