---
title: "At last we could bear the uncertainty no longer, and assuming the d… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: "At last we could bear the uncertainty no longer, and assuming the dresses of nuns, we joined several actual nuns and a couple of surgeons, who were going to France to follow the second army, in which Franz and Karl served, to nurse the wounded, seeking them out on the battle-field, which was very n
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 4, sentence 80

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"At last we could bear the uncertainty no longer, and assuming the dresses of nuns, we joined several actual nuns and a couple of surgeons, who were going to France to follow the second army, in which Franz and Karl served, to nurse the wounded, seeking them out on the battle-field, which was very necessary, for there were not nurses and surgeons sufficient for the need, and many died for the lack of nursing in time.

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**Who acts:** we, couple, Franz, battle field, nurses, many · **What happens:** bear, assume, join, go, follow, serve · **To what, where:** uncertainty, last, dresses, several actual nuns, France, second army

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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 (we, couple, Franz, battle field), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74323:5:80
# text = "At last we could bear the uncertainty no longer, and assuming the dresses of nuns, we joined several actual nuns and a couple of surgeons, who were going to France to follow the second army, in which Franz and Karl served, to nurse the wounded, seeking them out on the battle-field, which was very necessary, for there were not nurses and surgeons sufficient for the need, and many died for the lack of nursing in time.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	uncertainty	uncertainty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	no	no	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
13	assuming	assume	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	dresses	dress	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	nuns	nun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	joined	join	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
21	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	actual	actual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	nuns	nun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	surgeons	surgeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	France	France	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	39	amod	_	_
39	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	obl	_	_
43	Franz	Franz	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	Karl	Karl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	_
46	served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	wounded	wounded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
54	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	out	out	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
56	on	on	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
58	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
62	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	65	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
64	very	very	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
65	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
67	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	69	mark	_	_
68	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	69	expl	_	_
69	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	81	advcl	_	_
70	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	71	advmod	_	_
71	nurses	nurse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	69	nsubj	_	_
72	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
73	surgeons	surgeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	71	conj	_	_
74	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	71	amod	_	_
75	for	for	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	need	need	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	81	punct	_	_
79	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	81	cc	_	_
80	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	81	nsubj	_	_
81	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	parataxis	_	_
82	for	for	ADP	IN	_	84	case	_	_
83	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	84	det	_	_
84	lack	lack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	obl	_	_
85	of	of	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
86	nursing	nursing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	84	nmod	_	_
87	in	in	ADP	IN	_	88	case	_	_
88	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	86	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
89	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** *in a quote* | could | we | the uncertainty |  | last |  | long *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent uncertainty=Patient |
| 2 | **assume** *in a quote* | gerund | we *not said here* | the dresses of nuns |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dress=Theme |
| 3 | **join** *in a quote* | past | we | several actual nuns and a couple of surgeons |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nun=Patient |
| 4 | **go** *in a quote* | past · progressive | a couple of surgeons |  | France |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **follow** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a couple of surgeons *not said here* | the second army |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent army=Theme |
| 6 | **serve** *in a quote* | past | Franz and Karl | nurse |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent in which=Attribute |
| 7 | **seek out** *in a quote* | gerund | Franz and Karl *not said here* | nuns *= nun* |  | the battle field |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme on field=Location |
| 8 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the battle field |  |  |  |  | necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **be** *in a quote* | past | nurses and surgeons |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **die** *in a quote* | past | many |  |  |  |  | for the lack of nursing in time | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for lack=Theme |
| 11 | **lack** *in a quote* |  |  | nursing in time |  |  |  |  | nom lack «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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