---
title: The shepherds approached the corner where they were scraping and paw… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The shepherds approached the corner where they were scraping and pawing, and looked attentively at the hole growing every moment larger and deeper in the ground, and soon a sheet-iron chest became visible. Who acts: shepherds, hole, iron chest. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains»
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 72

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The shepherds approached the corner where they were scraping and pawing, and looked attentively at the hole growing every moment larger and deeper in the ground, and soon a sheet-iron chest became visible.

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**Who acts:** shepherds, hole, iron chest · **What happens:** approach, scrape, paw, look, grow, become · **To what, where:** corner

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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 (shepherds, hole, iron chest), 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:pg74323:24:72
# text = The shepherds approached the corner where they were scraping and pawing, and looked attentively at the hole growing every moment larger and deeper in the ground, and soon a sheet-iron chest became visible.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	9	advmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	scraping	scrape	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	pawing	paw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	attentively	attentively	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	acl	_	_
20	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	amod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	deeper	deep	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
30	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	36	advmod	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
32	sheet	sheet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
37	visible	visible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | the shepherds | the corner |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent corner=Theme |
| 2 | **scrape** | past · progressive | Shepherds *= shepherd* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **paw** | gerund | Shepherds *= shepherd* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn rummage-35.5-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **look** | past | the shepherds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the hole; attentively *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at hole=Theme |
| 5 | **grow** | gerund | the hole *not said here* |  |  |  | moment |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **become** | past | a iron chest |  |  |  |  | soon, visible *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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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