--- title: Thus it was for the luckless wooers a bitter sport, for let them exe… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: Thus it was for the luckless wooers a bitter sport, for let them exert themselves as they would to beguile the royal maiden into taking anything from their hands, the inevitable lady-in-waiting spoiled their sport. Who acts: Kaiser, wooers, inevitable lady. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Ha --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/53/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/) / [Legends and Tales., part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/) / 53 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 12, sentence 53 Thus it was for the luckless wooers a bitter sport, for let them exert themselves as they would to beguile the royal maiden into taking anything from their hands, the inevitable lady-in-waiting spoiled their sport. **Who acts:** Kaiser, wooers, inevitable lady · **What happens:** be, let, exert, beguile, take, spoil · **To what, where:** wooers, royal maiden, anything, hands, sport This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Kaiser, wooers, inevitable lady), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74323:13:53 # text = Thus it was for the luckless wooers a bitter sport, for let them exert themselves as they would to beguile the royal maiden into taking anything from their hands, the inevitable lady-in-waiting spoiled their sport. 1 Thus thus ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 4 for for ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 luckless luckless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 wooers wooer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 bitter bitter ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 sport sport NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 for for ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 let let VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 14 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 exert exert VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 xcomp _ _ 16 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 15 obj _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 19 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 21 mark _ _ 21 beguile beguile VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 advcl _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 royal royal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 25 into into SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 26 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 advcl _ _ 27 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 26 obj _ _ 28 from from ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 inevitable inevitable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ SpaceAfter=No 37 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 waiting waiting NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 appos _ _ 39 spoiled spoil VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 sport sport NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | Kaiser | | | | | for the luckless wooers and a bitter sport; a bitter sport *conj*; thus *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **let** | infinitive | | wooers *= wooer* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **exert** | infinitive | wooers *= wooer* *not said here* | wooers *= wooer* | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme | | 4 | **beguile** | would | wooers *= wooer* | the royal maiden | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus maiden=Experiencer | | 5 | **take** | gerund | wooers *= wooer* *not said here* | anything | | wooers's hands | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent anything=Theme from hand=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **spoil** | past | the inevitable lady | wooers's sport | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **sport** | | wooers *= wooer* | | | | | | nom sport «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **Text:** «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Project Gutenberg book 74323 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/54/) - ↑ back to [Legends and Tales., part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/13/)