--- title: And lo! scarcely were the words uttered, when a hissing flash of lig… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: And lo! scarcely were the words uttered, when a hissing flash of lightning, like a fiery serpent, pierced the castle, a fearful clap of thunder followed, the earth opened, the castle sank in the hidden deeps, and was seen no more. Who acts: words, earth, castle, lightning. A sentence of «Legends and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/22/82/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/) / [A Historical Tale., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/22/) / 82 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 5, sentence 82 And lo! scarcely were the words uttered, when a hissing flash of lightning, like a fiery serpent, pierced the castle, a fearful clap of thunder followed, the earth opened, the castle sank in the hidden deeps, and was seen no more. **Who acts:** words, earth, castle, lightning · **What happens:** be, utter, hiss, pierce, follow, open · **To what, where:** words, hissing flash, thunder, hidden deeps, more 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 (words, earth, castle, lightning), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74323:22:82 # text = And lo! scarcely were the words uttered, when a hissing flash of lightning, like a fiery serpent, pierced the castle, a fearful clap of thunder followed, the earth opened, the castle sank in the hidden deeps, and was seen no more. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 lo lo INTJ UH _ 8 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ! ! PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ 4 scarcely scarcely ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 5 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 8 uttered utter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 10 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 hissing hiss VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 13 amod _ _ 13 flash flash NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 lightning lightning NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 like like ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 fiery fiery ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 serpent serpent NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 22 pierced pierce VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 conj _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 castle castle NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 26 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 fearful fearful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 clap clap NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 conj _ _ 29 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 thunder thunder NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod _ _ 31 followed follow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 35 opened open VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 castle castle NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ _ 39 sank sink VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 advcl _ _ 40 in in ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 hidden hidden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 deeps deep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 46 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux:pass _ _ 47 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 advcl _ _ 48 no no ADV RB _ 49 advmod _ _ 49 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | | the words | | | | scarcely *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **utter** *speech: other* | past | the words | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **hiss** | gerund | | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **pierce** | participle · passive | | a hissing flash of lightning and a fiery serpent | | | | the castle and a fearful clap of thunder *obj* | tree rules | | 5 | **follow** | participle | | thunder *not said here* | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **open** | past | the earth | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **sink** | past | the castle | | | the hidden deeps | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 8 | **see** | past · passive | the words *not said here* | more | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: more=Stimulus | | 9 | **flash** | | lightning | | | | | | nom flash «event intransitive»: of=agent | | 10 | **clap** | | | thunder | | | | | nom clap «event transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/22/81/) - next →: [sentence 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/22/83/) - ↑ back to [A Historical Tale., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/22/)