---
title: He had dipped a little into the natural sciences, and learned a smat… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: He had dipped a little into the natural sciences, and learned a smattering of some of the absurdities of German Pantheism, and held himself competent to solve the mysteries of creation, and moral relations, of the universe and of mind, much better than the old-fashioned Moses and the Prophets, or St
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 3, sentence 121

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He had dipped a little into the natural sciences, and learned a smattering of some of the absurdities of German Pantheism, and held himself competent to solve the mysteries of creation, and moral relations, of the universe and of mind, much better than the old-fashioned Moses and the Prophets, or St. Paul.

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**Who acts:** Stammnitz · **What happens:** dip, learn, hold, solve · **To what, where:** little, natural sciences, smattering, Stammnitz, mysteries

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Stammnitz), 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:pg74323:4:121
# text = He had dipped a little into the natural sciences, and learned a smattering of some of the absurdities of German Pantheism, and held himself competent to solve the mysteries of creation, and moral relations, of the universe and of mind, much better than the old-fashioned Moses and the Prophets, or St. Paul.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	dipped	dip	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	sciences	science	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	smattering	smattering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	nmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	absurdities	absurdity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	Pantheism	pantheism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
26	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	obj	_	_
27	competent	competent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	solve	solve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	mysteries	mystery	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	creation	creation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	moral	moral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	relations	relation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	universe	universe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	much	much	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	41	parataxis	_	_
48	than	than	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
50	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	fashioned	fashioned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	Prophets	Prophet	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
58	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
59	St.	St.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	60	nmod:desc	_	_
60	Paul	Paul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dip** | past · perfect | Stammnitz | a little |  | the natural sciences |  | moral relations *obl*; the universe and mind *parataxis* | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into science=Location |
| 2 | **learn** | past |  | a smattering of some of the absurdities of German Pantheism |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent smattering=Topic |
| 3 | **hold** | past |  | Stammnitz |  |  |  | competent *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 4 | **solve** | to-infinitive |  | the mysteries of creation |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mystery=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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