---
title: A long and anxious stillness--then a horrible howl burst forth from… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: A long and anxious stillness--then a horrible howl burst forth from the gulf, drowning the roar and hiss of the waterfall, growing every minute louder and more terrible, as if a thousand wolves were engaged in a death-grapple; and the waters rose in mighty billows, as if a storm-wind raged beneath. 
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 1, sentence 93

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A long and anxious stillness--then a horrible howl burst forth from the gulf, drowning the roar and hiss of the waterfall, growing every minute louder and more terrible, as if a thousand wolves were engaged in a death-grapple; and the waters rose in mighty billows, as if a storm-wind raged beneath.

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**Who acts:** long stillness, waters, storm wind · **What happens:** burst, drown, grow, engage, rise, rage · **To what, where:** gulf, roar, thousand wolves, death grapple, mighty billows, waterfall

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (long stillness, waters, storm wind), 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:pg74323:2:93
# text = A long and anxious stillness--then a horrible howl burst forth from the gulf, drowning the roar and hiss of the waterfall, growing every minute louder and more terrible, as if a thousand wolves were engaged in a death-grapple; and the waters rose in mighty billows, as if a storm-wind raged beneath.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	stillness	stillness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	horrible	horrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	gulf	gulf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	drowning	drown	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	roar	roar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	hiss	hiss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	waterfall	waterfall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	conj	_	_
27	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	louder	loud	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	xcomp	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
32	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
35	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
43	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	grapple	grapple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
50	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	billows	billow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
55	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
56	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
58	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
61	raged	rage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	conj	_	_
62	beneath	beneath	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burst** | past | a long stillness |  |  | the gulf | then | a horrible howl *nsubj*; forth *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **drown** | gerund | a long stillness *not said here* | the roar and hiss of the waterfall |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent roar=Patient |
| 3 | **grow** | gerund | a long stillness *not said here* |  |  |  | minute | loud *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **engage** | past · passive |  | thousand wolves |  |  |  | in a death grapple *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in grapple=Goal |
| 5 | **rise** | past | the waters |  |  | mighty billows |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in billow=Location |
| 6 | **rage** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | a storm wind |  |  |  |  | beneath *property* | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **hiss** |  |  | the waterfall |  |  |  |  | nom hiss «event transitive»: of=patient |

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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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