---
title: The besiegers had lain long before the stronghold in vain, had storm… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: The besiegers had lain long before the stronghold in vain, had stormed the walls and the stronger rocks without success, and finally, evidently convinced that the fortress was impregnable, had raised the siege. Who acts: fortress. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lau
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 3, sentence 42

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The besiegers had lain long before the stronghold in vain, had stormed the walls and the stronger rocks without success, and finally, evidently convinced that the fortress was impregnable, had raised the siege.

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**Who acts:** fortress · **What happens:** lie, storm, be, raise · **To what, where:** besiegers, walls, siege

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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 (fortress), 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:pg74323:4:42
# text = The besiegers had lain long before the stronghold in vain, had stormed the walls and the stronger rocks without success, and finally, evidently convinced that the fortress was impregnable, had raised the siege.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	besiegers	besieger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	lain	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
6	before	before	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	stronghold	stronghold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	stormed	storm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	19	amod	_	_
19	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
20	without	without	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	success	success	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	evidently	evidently	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	convinced	convinced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	fortress	fortress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	impregnable	impregnable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	raised	raise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past · perfect · passive |  | the besiegers |  |  | before the stronghold in vain | long *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **storm** | past · perfect |  | the walls and the stronger rocks |  |  |  | without success | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | the fortress |  |  |  |  | impregnable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **raise** | past · perfect |  | the siege |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent siege=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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