---
title: The old soldier, who had listened in surprise to this singular conve… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The old soldier, who had listened in surprise to this singular conversation, could contain himself no longer. " Who acts: old soldier. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 22

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The old soldier, who had listened in surprise to this singular conversation, could contain himself no longer. "

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**Who acts:** old soldier · **What happens:** listen, contain · **To what, where:** soldier

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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 (old soldier), 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:pg74323:24:22
# text = The old soldier, who had listened in surprise to this singular conversation, could contain himself no longer. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	listened	listen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
12	singular	singular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	contain	contain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
17	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	_
18	no	no	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | past · perfect | the old soldier |  |  |  |  | to this singular conversation; in surprise | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in surprise=Theme |
| 2 | **contain** | could | the old soldier | soldier |  |  |  | long *property* | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot himself=Theme |

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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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