---
title: He paused suddenly, for he heard a rustling which was not the rustli… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: He paused suddenly, for he heard a rustling which was not the rustling of leaves, a breathing which was not the breathing of the South Wind, a pitty-pat of soft footsteps upon the floor. Who acts: Wainamoinen, rustling, breathing. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Ba
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Recipe, sentence 15

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He paused suddenly, for he heard a rustling which was not the rustling of leaves, a breathing which was not the breathing of the South Wind, a pitty-pat of soft footsteps upon the floor.

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**Who acts:** Wainamoinen, rustling, breathing · **What happens:** pause, hear, not be, pat · **To what, where:** rustling, breathing, soft footsteps

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Recipe. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wainamoinen, rustling, breathing), 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:pg66819:9:15
# text = He paused suddenly, for he heard a rustling which was not the rustling of leaves, a breathing which was not the breathing of the South Wind, a pitty-pat of soft footsteps upon the floor.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	paused	pause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rustling	rustling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	rustling	rustling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	breathing	breathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	breathing	breathing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	acl:relcl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	South	South	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	Wind	Wind	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	pitty	pitty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	pat	pat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	footsteps	footstep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	_
37	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pause** | past | Wainamoinen |  |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** | past | Wainamoinen | a rustling |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer rustling=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | past | a rustling | the rustling and a breathing |  |  |  | of leaves; a breathing *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **is a** | past | a breathing | the breathing and a pitty pat of soft footsteps upon the floor |  |  |  | of the South Wind; a pitty pat of soft footsteps upon the floor *conj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **pat** |  |  | soft footsteps upon the floor |  |  |  |  | nom pat «event transitive»: of=patient |

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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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