---
title: He let go of the long oar, the rudder with which he had steered the… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: He let go of the long oar, the rudder with which he had steered the vessel, and as it fell splashing into the sea, he lifted his eyes and prayed: Who acts: Minstrel, vessel. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Fate of the Sampo, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Fate of the Sampo, sentence 35

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He let go of the long oar, the rudder with which he had steered the vessel, and as it fell splashing into the sea, he lifted his eyes and prayed:

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**Who acts:** Minstrel, vessel · **What happens:** let, go, steer, fall, splash, lift · **To what, where:** vessel, sea, eyes

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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 (Minstrel, vessel), 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:pg66819:38:35
# text = He let go of the long oar, the rudder with which he had steered the vessel, and as it fell splashing into the sea, he lifted his eyes and prayed:
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	oar	oar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rudder	rudder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	steered	steer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
23	splashing	splash	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	xcomp	_	_
24	into	into	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	lifted	lift	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | past | Minstrel |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | Minstrel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the long oar | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme of oar=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **steer** | past · perfect | Minstrel | the vessel |  |  |  | with the rudder | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vessel=Theme |
| 4 | **fall** | past | vessel |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **splash** | gerund | vessel *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into sea=Destination |
| 6 | **lift** | past | Minstrel | Minstrel's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Theme |
| 7 | **pray** | past | Minstrel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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