--- title: "Karl and Franz, on hearing our story, sent them a solicitor's lette… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: "Karl and Franz, on hearing our story, sent them a solicitor's letter, demanding an explanation of their infamous conduct to two defenceless ladies. Who acts: Karl, solicitor, infamous conduct, letters. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., par --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/5/76/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/) / [Legends and Tales., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/5/) / 76 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 4, sentence 76 "Karl and Franz, on hearing our story, sent them a solicitor's letter, demanding an explanation of their infamous conduct to two defenceless ladies. **Who acts:** Karl, solicitor, infamous conduct, letters · **What happens:** hear, send, demand, letter, explain, conduct · **To what, where:** story, letters, explanation This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Karl, solicitor, infamous conduct, letters), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg74323:5:76 # text = "Karl and Franz, on hearing our story, sent them a solicitor's letter, demanding an explanation of their infamous conduct to two defenceless ladies. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Karl Karl PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 3 and and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 4 Franz Franz PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 on on SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 7 hearing hear VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 conj _ _ 8 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 11 sent send VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 solicitor solicitor NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 15 's 's PART POS _ 14 case _ _ 16 letter letter NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 18 demanding demand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ _ 19 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 explanation explanation NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 23 infamous infamous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 conduct conduct NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 25 to to ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 26 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 28 nummod _ _ 27 defenceless defenceless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 ladies lady NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** *in a quote* | gerund | Karl and Franz *not said here* | our story | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | | 2 | **send** *in a quote* | past | Karl and Franz | letters *= letter* | | | | a solicitor's letter *obj* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Destination letter=Theme | | 3 | **demand** *speech: request* *in a quote* | gerund | Karl and Franz *not said here* | a explanation of letters's infamous conduct | | | | to two defenceless ladies | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme explanation=Precondition | | 4 | **letter** *in a quote* | | a solicitor | | | | | | nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=agent | | 5 | **explain** *in a quote* | | letters's infamous conduct | | | | | | nom explanation «communication intransitive»: of=agent | | 6 | **conduct** *in a quote* | | letters *= letter* | | | | | | nom conduct «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/5/75/) - next →: [sentence 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/5/77/) - ↑ back to [Legends and Tales., part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/5/)