---
title: “What more can we do to make the land fit for men to dwell in?” aske… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “What more can we do to make the land fit for men to dwell in?” asked the eldest of the sisters. Who acts: we, land. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Wicked Hornet, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Wicked Hornet, sentence 10

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“What more can we do to make the land fit for men to dwell in?” asked the eldest of the sisters.

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**Who acts:** we, land · **What happens:** do, make, fit, dwell, ask · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Wicked Hornet. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, land), 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:pg66819:5:10
# text = “What more can we do to make the land fit for men to dwell in?” asked the eldest of the sisters.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	amod	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	fit	fit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	dwell	dwell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
19	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	ccomp	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | can | we |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **make** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fit** *in a quote* | present | the land |  |  |  |  | for men | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **dwell** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the land *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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