---
title: The terrified man knew of nothing better to do than to resign himsel… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The terrified man knew of nothing better to do than to resign himself to his fate, and to observe more closely his surroundings. Who acts: terrified man, man. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 14, sentence 64

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The terrified man knew of nothing better to do than to resign himself to his fate, and to observe more closely his surroundings.

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**Who acts:** terrified man, man · **What happens:** know, resign, observe, fate · **To what, where:** man, fate, surroundings

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (terrified man, man), 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:pg74323:15:64
# text = The terrified man knew of nothing better to do than to resign himself to his fate, and to observe more closely his surroundings.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	terrified	terrified	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	obl	_	_
7	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	punct	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
10	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	resign	resign	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	observe	observe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
21	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	22	advmod	_	_
22	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	surroundings	surroundings	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the terrified man |  |  |  |  | of nothing | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **resign** | to-infinitive · do-support | the terrified man *not said here* | man | man's fate |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent himself=Theme to fate=Recipient |
| 3 | **observe** | to-infinitive | the terrified man *not said here* | man's surroundings |  |  |  | closely *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent surroundings=Topic |
| 4 | **fate** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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