---
title: The Minstrel had heard that song a thousand times before; neverthele… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The Minstrel had heard that song a thousand times before; nevertheless, it seamed strangely new to him, and he leaned forward to listen to the words: Who acts: Minstrel, song. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Smithy, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Smithy, sentence 11

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The Minstrel had heard that song a thousand times before; nevertheless, it seamed strangely new to him, and he leaned forward to listen to the words:

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**Who acts:** Minstrel, song · **What happens:** hear, seam, learn, listen · **To what, where:** song, new

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Smithy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minstrel, song), 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:pg66819:7:11
# text = The Minstrel had heard that song a thousand times before; nevertheless, it seamed strangely new to him, and he leaned forward to listen to the words:
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Minstrel	Minstrel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	before	before	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	nevertheless	nevertheless	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	seamed	seam	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	strangely	strangely	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	leaned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
24	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past · perfect | the Minstrel | song |  |  |  | before *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **seam** | past | song | new to Minstrel |  |  |  | nevertheless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **learn** | past | Minstrel |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **listen** | to-infinitive | Minstrel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the words | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to word=Theme |

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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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