---
title: When he had uttered these words, he struck with trembling arm the ro… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: When he had uttered these words, he struck with trembling arm the rough cliff, and lo! the firm rock yielded like soft clay to the weak blow of the wooden axe! Who acts: wood, wooden axe. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 15, with its 
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 15, sentence 9

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When he had uttered these words, he struck with trembling arm the rough cliff, and lo! the firm rock yielded like soft clay to the weak blow of the wooden axe!

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**Who acts:** wood, wooden axe · **What happens:** utter, strike, tremble, yield, blow · **To what, where:** words, arm, firm rock

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wood, wooden axe), 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:pg74323:16:9
# text = When he had uttered these words, he struck with trembling arm the rough cliff, and lo! the firm rock yielded like soft clay to the weak blow of the wooden axe!
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	uttered	utter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
12	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	lo	lo	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
23	yielded	yield	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **utter** *speech: other* | past · perfect | wood | this words |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 2 | **strike** | past | wood |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location |
| 3 | **tremble** | gerund | wood *not said here* | arm |  |  |  | the rough cliff *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **yield** | participle |  | the firm rock *not said here* |  |  |  | like soft clay; to the weak blow of the wooden axe | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to blow=Theme |
| 5 | **blow** |  | the wooden axe |  |  |  |  |  | nom blow «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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