---
title: The Graybeard smeared a little of the ointment on the Minstrel’s wou… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The Graybeard smeared a little of the ointment on the Minstrel’s wounded knee; he stroked the poor man’s back, his hands, his head. Who acts: Graybeard. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Graybeard and His Son, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Graybeard and His Son, sentence 129

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The Graybeard smeared a little of the ointment on the Minstrel’s wounded knee; he stroked the poor man’s back, his hands, his head.

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**Who acts:** Graybeard · **What happens:** smear, stroke · **To what, where:** little, hands

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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 (Graybeard), 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:pg66819:4:129
# text = The Graybeard smeared a little of the ointment on the Minstrel’s wounded knee; he stroked the poor man’s back, his hands, his head.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Graybeard	Graybeard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	smeared	smear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ointment	ointment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	wounded	wounded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	stroked	stroke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	ccomp	_	_
22	back	back	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **smear** | past | the Graybeard | a little of the ointment on the Minstrel's wounded knee |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent little=Theme |
| 2 | **stroke** | past | Graybeard | man's hands |  |  |  | man's head *obl* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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