---
title: The noble animal stood breathless on the brink of the abyss which is… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The noble animal stood breathless on the brink of the abyss which is called after him the Stag Cliff, and started back in fear and trembling from the black gulf. Who acts: noble animal. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 5, with its dep
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 5, sentence 54

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The noble animal stood breathless on the brink of the abyss which is called after him the Stag Cliff, and started back in fear and trembling from the black gulf.

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**Who acts:** noble animal · **What happens:** stand, call, start back, tremble · **To what, where:** brink, abyss, fear · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (noble animal), 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:pg74323:22:54
# text = The noble animal stood breathless on the brink of the abyss which is called after him the Stag Cliff, and started back in fear and trembling from the black gulf.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	noble	noble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	breathless	breathless	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	brink	brink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	abyss	abyss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	after	after	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	Stag	Stag	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	Cliff	Cliff	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	back	back	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	gulf	gulf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the noble animal |  |  | the brink of the abyss |  | breathless *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on brink=Location |
| 2 | **call** | present · passive |  | the abyss |  |  | after stag | the Stag Cliff *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **start back** | past | the noble animal *not said here* |  |  | fear |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **tremble** | gerund | the noble animal *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from the black gulf | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer from gulf=Stimulus |

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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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