---
title: If the treasure in their possession had not proved to the contrary,… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: If the treasure in their possession had not proved to the contrary, they would have held the whole thing for a dream. Who acts: treasure, treasures. 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 ev
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 82

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If the treasure in their possession had not proved to the contrary, they would have held the whole thing for a dream.

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**Who acts:** treasure, treasures · **What happens:** not prove, hold, possess · **To what, where:** treasures

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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 (treasure, treasures), 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:pg74323:24:82
# text = If the treasure in their possession had not proved to the contrary, they would have held the whole thing for a dream.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	treasure	treasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	proved	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	contrary	contrary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux	_	_
17	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **prove** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | the treasure in treasures's possession |  |  |  |  | to the contrary | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to contrary=Experiencer |
| 2 | **hold** | would · perfect · passive |  | treasures *= treasure* |  |  |  | the whole thing *obj* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme thing=Eventuality |
| 3 | **possess** |  | treasures *= treasure* |  |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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