---
title: The low, dark hall was full of shadows; dim figures lurked in the co… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: The low, dark hall was full of shadows; dim figures lurked in the corners and danced among the rafters; the air was grimy with smoke; the flames burned blue and fitfully on the ash-strewn hearth. Who acts: low dark hall, air, flames. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Recipe, sentence 2

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The low, dark hall was full of shadows; dim figures lurked in the corners and danced among the rafters; the air was grimy with smoke; the flames burned blue and fitfully on the ash-strewn hearth.

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**Who acts:** low dark hall, air, flames · **What happens:** be, lurk, dance, burn · **To what, where:** dim figures, corners, rafters

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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 (low dark hall, air, flames), 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:pg66819:9:2
# text = The low, dark hall was full of shadows; dim figures lurked in the corners and danced among the rafters; the air was grimy with smoke; the flames burned blue and fitfully on the ash-strewn hearth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	appos	_	_
13	lurked	lurk	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	corners	corner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
19	among	among	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	rafters	rafter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	grimy	grimy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
32	burned	burn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
33	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
35	fitfully	fitfully	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
38	ash	ash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	strewn	strewn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	hearth	hearth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the low dark hall |  |  |  |  | of shadows; full *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lurk** | participle |  | dim figures *not said here* |  | the corners |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in corner=Location |
| 3 | **dance** | past |  |  |  | the rafters |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme among rafter=Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | the air |  |  |  |  | with smoke; grimy *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **burn** | past | the flames |  |  |  |  | the strewn hearth *conj*; blue *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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