---
title: For many years he related only to his wife what had happened, but as… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: For many years he related only to his wife what had happened, but as he grew old he told the history to his sons, that they might learn therefrom the same lesson as himself. Who acts: Graumännchen, wife. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., pa
---

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 6, sentence 131

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For many years he related only to his wife what had happened, but as he grew old he told the history to his sons, that they might learn therefrom the same lesson as himself.

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**Who acts:** Graumännchen, wife · **What happens:** relate, happen, grow, tell, learn · **To what, where:** history, sons, same lesson · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Graumännchen, wife), 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:pg74323:7:131
# text = For many years he related only to his wife what had happened, but as he grew old he told the history to his sons, that they might learn therefrom the same lesson as himself.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	related	relate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
31	therefrom	therefrom	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **relate** | past | Graumännchen |  |  |  | year | to Graumännchen's wife | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to wife=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **happen** | past · perfect | Graumännchen's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **grow** | past | Graumännchen |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Graumännchen | the history | Graumännchen's sons |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent history=Topic to son=Recipient |
| 5 | **learn** | might | wife | the same lesson |  |  |  | as Graumännchen | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lesson=Topic |

<!-- .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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