---
title: On his dying bed he commended them to his sons, and charged them nev… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: On his dying bed he commended them to his sons, and charged them never to sell the land. Who acts: voice. 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 32

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On his dying bed he commended them to his sons, and charged them never to sell the land.

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**Who acts:** voice · **What happens:** die, commend, charge, not sell · **To what, where:** trees, dying bed, land

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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 (voice), 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:pg74323:24:32
# text = On his dying bed he commended them to his sons, and charged them never to sell the land.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	dying	die	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	amod	_	_
4	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	commended	commend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	charged	charge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **commend** | past | voice | trees *= tree* |  | voice's dying bed |  | to voice's sons | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **charge** | past | voice *not said here* | trees *= tree* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location they=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **sell** | to-infinitive | voice *not said here* | the land |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent land=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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