---
title: Then, with the greatest care, he took a small portion of the ointmen… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: Then, with the greatest care, he took a small portion of the ointment upon his finger; he smeared it gently upon the trunk and branches of the wounded pine; he sang softly a little song of magic: Who acts: man, magic. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Gr
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Graybeard and His Son, sentence 104

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Then, with the greatest care, he took a small portion of the ointment upon his finger; he smeared it gently upon the trunk and branches of the wounded pine; he sang softly a little song of magic:

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**Who acts:** man, magic · **What happens:** take, smear, sing · **To what, where:** small portion, portion, trunk, little song

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Graybeard and His Son. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, magic), 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:pg66819:4:104
# text = Then, with the greatest care, he took a small portion of the ointment upon his finger; he smeared it gently upon the trunk and branches of the wounded pine; he sang softly a little song of magic:
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ointment	ointment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	smeared	smear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
24	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	wounded	wounded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	pine	pine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
36	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | man | a small portion of the ointment upon man's finger |  |  | then | with the greatest care | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Theme |
| 2 | **smear** | past | man | portion |  | the trunk and branches of the wounded pine |  | gently *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme upon trunk=Destination |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | man | a little song of magic |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 4 | **sing** |  | magic |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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