---
title: The most hideous brood of nature was flocked together, and swarmed a… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The most hideous brood of nature was flocked together, and swarmed around the feet of the three men entering, as if to form a wall to hinder their entrance. Who acts: three men. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 4, with its dependency 
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 4, sentence 6

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The most hideous brood of nature was flocked together, and swarmed around the feet of the three men entering, as if to form a wall to hinder their entrance.

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**Who acts:** three men · **What happens:** flock together, swarm, enter, form, hinder · **To what, where:** hideous brood, feet, wall, entrance

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three men), 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:pg74323:21:6
# text = The most hideous brood of nature was flocked together, and swarmed around the feet of the three men entering, as if to form a wall to hinder their entrance.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	3	advmod	_	_
3	hideous	hideous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	brood	brood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	flocked	flock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	together	together	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	swarmed	swarm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
13	around	around	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
20	entering	enter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	form	form	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	hinder	hinder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	entrance	entrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flock together** | past · passive |  | the hideous brood of nature |  |  |  | together *property* | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **swarm** | participle |  |  |  | the feet of the three men |  |  | vn swarm-47.5.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme around foot=Location |
| 3 | **enter** | gerund | the three men *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **form** *a condition, not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | a wall |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wall=Theme |
| 5 | **hinder** | to-infinitive |  | men's entrance |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer entrance=Eventuality |

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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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