---
title: At length despair seizes the father's heart, he throws himself to th… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: At length despair seizes the father's heart, he throws himself to the earth in wild agony, beats his brow and tears his hair, while a troop of attendants stand weeping around him. Who acts: heart, troop. 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 7, sentence 128

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At length despair seizes the father's heart, he throws himself to the earth in wild agony, beats his brow and tears his hair, while a troop of attendants stand weeping around him.

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**Who acts:** heart, troop · **What happens:** seize, throw, beat, tear, stand, weep · **To what, where:** heart, length despair, earth, brow, hair

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heart, troop), 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:pg74323:8:128
# text = At length despair seizes the father's heart, he throws himself to the earth in wild agony, beats his brow and tears his hair, while a troop of attendants stand weeping around him.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	seizes	seize	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	throws	throw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	agony	agony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	beats	beat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	brow	brow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	tears	tear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	troop	troop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
33	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
34	weeping	weep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	33	xcomp	_	_
35	around	around	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | present |  | the father's heart |  | length despair |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Theme |
| 2 | **throw** | present | heart | heart |  | the earth in wild agony |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent himself=Theme to earth=Destination |
| 3 | **beat** | present |  | heart's brow |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location brow=Theme |
| 4 | **tear** | present |  | heart's hair |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location hair=Theme |
| 5 | **stand** | present | a troop of attendants |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **weep** | gerund | a troop of attendants *not said here* |  |  |  |  | around heart | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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