---
title: The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the mournful dirge, and th… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the mournful dirge, and the organ weeps and wails as if it were the very soul of sorrow. Who acts: nuns, organ. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 2, sentence 115

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The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the mournful dirge, and the organ weeps and wails as if it were the very soul of sorrow.

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**Who acts:** nuns, organ · **What happens:** chant, weep, wail, be · **To what, where:** mournful dirge

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nuns, organ), 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:pg74323:19:115
# text = The nuns, the Abbess at their head, chant the mournful dirge, and the organ weeps and wails as if it were the very soul of sorrow.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	nuns	nun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Abbess	Abbess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
10	chant	chant	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	mournful	mournful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	dirge	dirge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	organ	organ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	weeps	weep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	wails	wail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	27	case	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	fixed	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chant** | present | the nuns  the Abbess at Abbesses's head | the mournful dirge |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dirge=Topic |
| 2 | **weep** | present | the organ |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wail** | present | the organ *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | organ |  |  |  |  | as the soul; of sorrow | tree rules |

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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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