---
title: On the way to the spot he commanded his men: "Let no one speak while… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: On the way to the spot he commanded his men: "Let no one speak while digging, or all is lost." Who acts: spot. 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 95

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On the way to the spot he commanded his men: "Let no one speak while digging, or all is lost."

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**Who acts:** spot · **What happens:** command, let, dig, lose · **To what, where:** men, way, one speak, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (spot), 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:pg74323:24:95
# text = On the way to the spot he commanded his men: "Let no one speak while digging, or all is lost."
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
15	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	speak	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	digging	dig	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **command** | past | spot | spot's men |  | the way to the spot |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | spot *not said here* | no one speak |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent speak=Theme |
| 3 | **dig** *in a quote* | gerund | spot *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **lose** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

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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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