--- title: Note A.—A very long time ago, among the ancestors of the people know… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics description: Note A.—A very long time ago, among the ancestors of the people known as Finns, there were professional minstrels called runolainen, whose business it was to preserve the memory of the national songs, folk-lore tales, and old sagas of the race. Who acts: you, professional minstrels, business. A sent --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/38/136/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old No…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/) / [The Fate of the Sampo](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/38/) / 136 # The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Fate of the Sampo, sentence 136 Note A.—A very long time ago, among the ancestors of the people known as Finns, there were professional minstrels called runolainen, whose business it was to preserve the memory of the national songs, folk-lore tales, and old sagas of the race. **Who acts:** you, professional minstrels, business · **What happens:** note, know, be, call · **To what, where:** A., people, runolainen · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Fate of the Sampo. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, professional minstrels, business), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66819:38:136 # text = Note A.—A very long time ago, among the ancestors of the people known as Finns, there were professional minstrels called runolainen, whose business it was to preserve the memory of the national songs, folk-lore tales, and old sagas of the race. 1 Note note VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 A. A. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 1 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 — - PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 5 very very ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl:unmarked _ _ 8 ago ago ADV RB _ 1 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 among among ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 ancestors ancestor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 1 obl _ _ 13 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nmod _ _ 16 known know VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 acl _ _ 17 as as ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 Finns finn NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 21 expl _ _ 21 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 advcl _ _ 22 professional professional ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 minstrels minstrel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj _ _ 24 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 acl _ _ 25 runolainen runolainen NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 business business NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 conj _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 preserve preserve VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 1 parataxis _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 memory memory NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 national national ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 songs song NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 40 folk folk NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 41 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 lore lore NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 compound _ _ 43 tales tale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 46 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 sagas saga NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 conj _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 race race NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **note** | imperative | you *not said here* | A. | | | | among the ancestors of the people; ago *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent a.=Topic | | 2 | **know** | participle | | the people *not said here* | | | | as Finns | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as finn=Attribute | | 3 | **be** | past | professional minstrels | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **call** | participle | professional minstrels *not said here* | runolainen and runolainen and runolainen's business's business | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | past | business | | | | | the memory of the national songs and lore tales and old sagas of the race *obj*; preserve *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 135](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/38/135/) - next →: [sentence 137](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/38/137/) - ↑ back to [The Fate of the Sampo](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/38/)