---
title: Approaching the spot, they were seized with trembling as they discov… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: Approaching the spot, they were seized with trembling as they discovered an old crucifix in the wall, and, bending the knee, murmured a prayer. Who acts: curiosity. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 7, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 70

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Approaching the spot, they were seized with trembling as they discovered an old crucifix in the wall, and, bending the knee, murmured a prayer.

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**Who acts:** curiosity · **What happens:** approach, seize, discover, bend, murmur · **To what, where:** spot, curiosity, old crucifix, wall, knee, prayer

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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 (curiosity), 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:pg74323:24:70
# text = Approaching the spot, they were seized with trembling as they discovered an old crucifix in the wall, and, bending the knee, murmured a prayer.
1	Approaching	approach	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	trembling	trembling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	discovered	discover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	crucifix	crucifix	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	bending	bend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	murmured	murmur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	prayer	prayer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | gerund |  | the spot |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spot=Theme |
| 2 | **seize** | past · passive |  | curiosity |  |  |  | with trembling | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **discover** | past | curiosity | a old crucifix |  | the wall |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crucifix=Topic |
| 4 | **bend** | gerund | curiosity *not said here* | the knee |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent knee=Material |
| 5 | **murmur** *speech: other* | past | curiosity *not said here* | a prayer |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prayer=Topic |

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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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