---
title: It was a very dark night, and returning home from the village and op… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a very dark night, and returning home from the village and opening the cottage door he almost sank down from terror, for it was light as if the house were on fire. Who acts: thought, Ei. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 13, wit
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 13, sentence 79

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It was a very dark night, and returning home from the village and opening the cottage door he almost sank down from terror, for it was light as if the house were on fire.

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**Who acts:** thought, Ei · **What happens:** be, return, open, sink down · **To what, where:** dark night, village, cottage door, terror, fire

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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 (thought, Ei), 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:pg74323:14:80
# text = It was a very dark night, and returning home from the village and opening the cottage door he almost sank down from terror, for it was light as if the house were on fire.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
9	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
10	home	home	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	opening	open	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	parataxis	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	33	case	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	fixed	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
35	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | thought | a dark night |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** | gerund | Ei *not said here* |  |  | the village |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from village=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **open** | gerund | Ei *not said here* | the cottage door |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme |
| 4 | **sink down** | past | Ei |  |  | terror |  | almost *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | thought |  |  |  |  | as the house; light *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** | past | thought *not said here* |  |  | fire |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on fire=Location |

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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:** «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.

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