---
title: “I cannot describe its shape,” she answered, “for it is still uncrea… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: “I cannot describe its shape,” she answered, “for it is still uncreated and therefore formless; but its composition is quite simple and its ingredients are of the commonest kind. Who acts: Mistress, composition, ingredients. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin,
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Recipe, sentence 53

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“I cannot describe its shape,” she answered, “for it is still uncreated and therefore formless; but its composition is quite simple and its ingredients are of the commonest kind.

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**Who acts:** Mistress, composition, ingredients · **What happens:** not describe, answer, uncreat, be · **To what, where:** shape, hundred · **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 Recipe. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mistress, composition, ingredients), 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:pg66819:9:53
# text = “I cannot describe its shape,” she answered, “for it is still uncreated and therefore formless; but its composition is quite simple and its ingredients are of the commonest kind.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	describe	describe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
17	still	still	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	uncreated	uncreat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	ccomp	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	formless	formless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	composition	composition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	simple	simple	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	ingredients	ingredient	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
32	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	commonest	common	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	36	amod	_	_
36	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **describe** *in a quote* | can | Mistress | hundred's shape |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent shape=Theme |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Mistress |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **uncreat** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | hundred |  |  | still |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | hundred's composition |  |  |  |  | simple *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | hundred's ingredients |  |  |  |  | of the commonest kind | tree rules |

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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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