---
title: The features of the little creatures grew cheerful as they heard tha… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The features of the little creatures grew cheerful as they heard that their odd letter had been posted as directed, and they became merry and contented, although the day passed without anything happening for their release. Who acts: features, day. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountai
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 6, sentence 32

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The features of the little creatures grew cheerful as they heard that their odd letter had been posted as directed, and they became merry and contented, although the day passed without anything happening for their release.

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**Who acts:** features, day · **What happens:** grow, hear, post, direct, become, content · **To what, where:** odd letter, little creatures · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (features, day), 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:pg74323:23:32
# text = The features of the little creatures grew cheerful as they heard that their odd letter had been posted as directed, and they became merry and contented, although the day passed without anything happening for their release.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	features	feature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	cheerful	cheerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	posted	post	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	ccomp	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	directed	direct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
25	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	contented	content	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
33	without	without	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	32	obl	_	_
35	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	release	release	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the features of the little creatures |  |  |  |  | cheerful *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** | past | features *= feature* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **post** | past · perfect · passive |  | features's odd letter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **direct** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **become** | past | features *= feature* |  |  |  |  | merry *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **content** | participle | features *= feature* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **pass** | past | the day |  |  |  |  | without anything | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **happen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for features's release | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **feature** |  |  | the little creatures |  |  |  |  | nom feature «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **letter** |  | features *= feature* |  |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication 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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