--- title: "We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued the orator; "b… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: "We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued the orator; "but Arno is cunning as a fox, and we should probably only expose our town to more robbery if he discovered that we were trying to waylay him." Who acts: We, orator, Arno. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Too --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/14/26/) [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 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/14/) / 26 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 13, sentence 26 "We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued the orator; "but Arno is cunning as a fox, and we should probably only expose our town to more robbery if he discovered that we were trying to waylay him." **Who acts:** We, orator, Arno · **What happens:** attempt, take, continue, be, expose, discover · **To what, where:** assembly, town, more robbery · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, orator, Arno), 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:pg74323:14:27 # text = "We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued the orator; "but Arno is cunning as a fox, and we should probably only expose our town to more robbery if he discovered that we were trying to waylay him." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 attempt attempt VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obj _ _ 8 by by ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 strategy strategy NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 12 continued continue VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 orator orator NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 " " PUNCT `` _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 18 Arno Arno PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 19 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 20 cunning cunning ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 21 as as ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 fox fox NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 26 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 27 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 28 probably probably ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 29 only only ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 expose expose VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 conj _ _ 31 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 to to ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 35 amod _ _ 35 robbery robbery NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 36 if if SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 discovered discover VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 advcl _ _ 39 that that SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 40 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 trying try VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 advcl _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 waylay waylay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ _ 45 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **attempt** *in a quote* | might | We | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **take** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | We *not said here* | | assembly | | | by strategy | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination | | 3 | **continue** | past | the orator | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Arno | | | | | as a fox; cunning *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **expose** *in a quote* | should | we | our town | more robbery | | | probably *property* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent town=Theme to robbery=Recipient | | 6 | **discover** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | Arno | | | | | | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S\_ING»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **try** *in a quote* | past · progressive | we | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 8 | **waylay** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | assembly | | | | | tree rules | 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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/14/25/) - next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/14/27/) - ↑ back to [Legends and Tales., part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/14/)