--- title: If they had taken advantage of Adam's surprise, they might have made… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: If they had taken advantage of Adam's surprise, they might have made their escape; but fear and terror rooted them to the spot till he had recovered himself, seized them with a firm hand, and asked in a stern voice who they were, and where they came from. Who acts: hands, fear, stranger, Adam. A sen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/23/8/) [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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/23/) / 8 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 6, sentence 8 If they had taken advantage of Adam's surprise, they might have made their escape; but fear and terror rooted them to the spot till he had recovered himself, seized them with a firm hand, and asked in a stern voice who they were, and where they came from. **Who acts:** hands, fear, stranger, Adam · **What happens:** take, make, root, recover, seize, ask · **To what, where:** advantage, escape, hands, stranger, stern voice 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 (hands, fear, stranger, Adam), 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:pg74323:23:8 # text = If they had taken advantage of Adam's surprise, they might have made their escape; but fear and terror rooted them to the spot till he had recovered himself, seized them with a firm hand, and asked in a stern voice who they were, and where they came from. 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 advantage advantage NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 Adam Adam PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 8 's 's PART POS _ 7 case _ _ 9 surprise surprise NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 13 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 14 aux _ _ 14 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 15 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 escape escape NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 terror terror NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 conj _ _ 22 rooted root VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 23 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 obj _ _ 24 to to ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 27 till till SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 29 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 recovered recover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 advcl _ _ 31 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 33 seized seize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 34 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 with with ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 firm firm ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ _ 42 in in ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 stern stern ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 46 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 45 conj _ _ 47 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 48 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 51 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 53 advmod _ _ 52 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 nsubj _ _ 53 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 conj _ _ 54 from from ADP IN _ 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** | past · perfect | hands *= hand* | advantage of Adam's surprise | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent advantage=Theme | | 2 | **make** | might · perfect | hands *= hand* | hands's escape | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset escape=Product | | 3 | **root** | past | fear and terror | hands *= hand* | | | | to the spot | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient | | 4 | **recover** | past · perfect | stranger | stranger | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme | | 5 | **seize** | past | fear and terror *not said here* | hands *= hand* | | | | with a firm hand | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | | | | a stern voice | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is a** | past | hands *= hand* | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **come** | past | hands *= hand* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **surprise** | | Adam | | | | | | nom surprise «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | | 10 | **escape** | | hands *= hand* | | | | | | nom escape «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/23/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/23/9/) - ↑ back to [A Historical Tale., part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/23/)