--- title: "Ah! if we could only appear to him!" added the third; "if we could… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: "Ah! if we could only appear to him!" added the third; "if we could only appear and beg him for life, we should not plead in vain; I have seen him mourn too, have heard him lament the beautiful forest. Who acts: we, nymphs, race. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Laud --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/24/17/) [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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/24/) / 17 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 17 "Ah! if we could only appear to him!" added the third; "if we could only appear and beg him for life, we should not plead in vain; I have seen him mourn too, have heard him lament the beautiful forest. **Who acts:** we, nymphs, race · **What happens:** appear, add, beg, not plead, see, mourn · **To what, where:** race, third, vain, beautiful forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, nymphs, race), 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:pg74323:24:17 # text = "Ah! if we could only appear to him!" added the third; "if we could only appear and beg him for life, we should not plead in vain; I have seen him mourn too, have heard him lament the beautiful forest. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Ah ah INTJ UH _ 8 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ! ! PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ 4 if if SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 5 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 6 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 7 only only ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 appear appear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 9 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ! ! PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 " " PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ 13 added add VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 third third ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 17 " " PUNCT `` _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 if if SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 19 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 only only ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 appear appear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 conj _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 beg beg VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 conj _ _ 25 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 for for ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 32 plead plead VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 conj _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ; ; PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 36 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 39 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 mourn mourn VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 41 too too ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 44 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 8 parataxis _ _ 45 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 obj _ _ 46 lament lament VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 xcomp _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 48 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 forest forest NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **appear** *in a quote* | could | we | | race | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **add** *speech: express* | past | we *not said here* | the third | | | | | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent third=Patient | | 3 | **appear** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | could | we | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **beg** *speech: request* *in a quote* | infinitive | we *not said here* | | race | | | for life | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient for life=Topic | | 5 | **not** **plead** *speech: request* *in a quote* | should | we | | | vain | | | tree rules | | 6 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the nymphs of the lake and the mountain stream *= nymph* | race | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **mourn** *in a quote* | infinitive | race *not said here* | | | | | | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **hear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | | race | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **lament** *in a quote* | infinitive | race *not said here* | the beautiful forest | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer forest=Stimulus | 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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/24/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/24/18/) - ↑ back to [A Historical Tale., part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/24/)