---
title: His sharp eye had long observed that pilfering hands had laid hold o… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: His sharp eye had long observed that pilfering hands had laid hold of his field-products, and it had pained him excessively that one would steal from him, for he had never permitted the needy to depart with empty hands; but in the last night so much had been stolen from his pea-field that his hither
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 5, sentence 88

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His sharp eye had long observed that pilfering hands had laid hold of his field-products, and it had pained him excessively that one would steal from him, for he had never permitted the needy to depart with empty hands; but in the last night so much had been stolen from his pea-field that his hitherto silent displeasure broke forth in expressions of anger.

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**Who acts:** pilfering hands, one, owner, silent displeasure · **What happens:** observe, pilfer, lay, pain, steal, not permit · **To what, where:** sharp eye, hold, hand, pea field, expressions, field products

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (pilfering hands, one, owner, silent displeasure), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74323:22:88
# text = His sharp eye had long observed that pilfering hands had laid hold of his field-products, and it had pained him excessively that one would steal from him, for he had never permitted the needy to depart with empty hands; but in the last night so much had been stolen from his pea-field that his hitherto silent displeasure broke forth in expressions of anger.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	pilfering	pilfer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
12	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
15	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	products	product	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	pained	pain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	excessively	excessively	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
25	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	permitted	permit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	needy	needy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	depart	depart	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
50	so	so	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	much	much	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
52	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
53	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
55	from	from	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
57	pea	pea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	_
60	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	65	obj	_	_
61	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
62	hitherto	hitherto	ADV	RB	_	63	advmod	_	_
63	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	amod	_	_
64	displeasure	displeasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	nsubj	_	_
65	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	acl:relcl	_	_
66	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
67	in	in	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
68	expressions	expression	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	obl	_	_
69	of	of	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
70	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **observe** | past · perfect · passive |  | owner's sharp eye |  |  |  | long *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **pilfer** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **lay** | past · perfect | pilfering hands | hold of owner's field products |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pain** | past · perfect · passive |  | hand |  |  |  | owner *obj* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer he=Result |
| 5 | **steal** | would | that one |  |  |  |  | from owner; excessively *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **permit** | past · perfect | owner |  |  |  |  | needy *property* | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer |
| 7 | **depart** | to-infinitive | owner *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with empty hands | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **steal** | past · perfect · passive |  |  |  | owner's pea field | night |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V» |
| 9 | **break** | past | owner's silent displeasure | owner's pea field |  | expressions of anger |  | forth *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer that=Patient |
| 10 | **hold** |  |  | owner's field products |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 11 | **displease** |  | owner |  |  |  |  |  | nom displeasure «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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