--- title: Once, more than a hundred years ago, on St. John's Day, a number of… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics description: Once, more than a hundred years ago, on St. John's Day, a number of children from Steckelnberg were scattered in the thickets around the ruins gathering flowers and making wreaths and garlands, when suddenly one of the boys uttered a cry of astonishment. Who acts: ruins, one, astonishment. A sentenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/6/24/) [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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/6/) / 24 # Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 5, sentence 24 Once, more than a hundred years ago, on St. John's Day, a number of children from Steckelnberg were scattered in the thickets around the ruins gathering flowers and making wreaths and garlands, when suddenly one of the boys uttered a cry of astonishment. **Who acts:** ruins, one, astonishment · **What happens:** scatter, gather, make, utter, cry · **To what, where:** Day, thickets, flowers, wreaths, cry This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ruins, one, astonishment), 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:pg74323:6:24 # text = Once, more than a hundred years ago, on St. John's Day, a number of children from Steckelnberg were scattered in the thickets around the ruins gathering flowers and making wreaths and garlands, when suddenly one of the boys uttered a cry of astonishment. 1 Once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 23 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV 6 advmod _ _ 4 than than ADP IN _ 3 fixed _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 7 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl:unmarked _ _ 8 ago ago ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 on on ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 11 St. St. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 nmod:desc _ _ 12 John John PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 13 's 's PART POS _ 12 case _ _ 14 Day Day PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 number number NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 appos _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nmod _ _ 20 from from ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 Steckelnberg Steckelnberg PROPN NNP Number=Sing 19 nmod _ _ 22 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux:pass _ _ 23 scattered scatter VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 24 in in ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 thickets thicket NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obl _ _ 27 around around ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 ruins ruin NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nmod _ _ 30 gathering gather VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 29 acl _ _ 31 flowers flower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 making make VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 30 conj _ _ 34 wreaths wreath NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obj _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 garlands garland NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 38 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 44 advmod _ _ 39 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 40 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 44 nsubj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 boys boy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nmod _ _ 44 uttered utter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 45 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 cry cry NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 astonishment astonishment NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 23 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **scatter** | past · passive | | John St.'s Day | | the thickets around the ruins | | ago, once *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in thicket=Destination | | 2 | **gather** | gerund | the ruins *not said here* | flowers | | | | | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flower=Theme | | 3 | **make** | gerund | the ruins *not said here* | wreaths and garlands | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wreath=Product | | 4 | **utter** *speech: other* | past | one of the boys | a cry of astonishment | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cry=Topic | | 5 | **cry** | | astonishment | | | | | | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/6/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/6/25/) - ↑ back to [Legends and Tales., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/6/)