The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Sobbing Pine, sentence 3
He was a great hunter and did many remarkable things, but there was once a time when all his courage and strength were of no avail,--when but for the help of a little squirrel he would have perished miserably.
Who acts: lad, courage · What happens: be, do, perish, help · To what, where: great hunter, many remarkable things, lad, little squirrel
This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Sobbing Pine. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lad, courage), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 hunter | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 hunter | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 hunter | det |
| 4 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 hunter | amod |
| 5 | hunter | hunter | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 did | cc |
| 7 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 hunter | conj |
| 8 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 things | amod |
| 9 | remarkable | remarkable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 things | amod |
| 10 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 did | obj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 was | punct |
| 12 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 was | cc |
| 13 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 14 was | expl |
| 14 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 avail | cop |
| 15 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 14 was | advmod |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 time | det |
| 17 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 once | obl:unmarked |
| 18 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 27 avail | advmod |
| 19 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 21 courage | det:predet |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 courage | nmod:poss |
| 21 | courage | courage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 avail | nsubj |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 strength | cc |
| 23 | strength | strength | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 courage | conj |
| 24 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 avail | cop |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 avail | case |
| 26 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 27 avail | det |
| 27 | avail | avail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 hunter | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 perished | punct |
| 29 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 42 perished | punct |
| 30 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 42 perished | advmod |
| 31 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 42 perished | cc |
| 32 | for | for | ADP | _ | 34 help | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 help | det |
| 34 | help | help | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 perished | obl |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 squirrel | case |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 squirrel | det |
| 37 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 squirrel | amod |
| 38 | squirrel | squirrel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 help | nmod |
| 39 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 perished | nsubj:pass |
| 40 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 perished | aux |
| 41 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 42 perished | aux |
| 42 | perished | perish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 avail | parataxis |
| 43 | miserably | miserably | ADV | _ | 42 perished | advmod |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 hunter | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | lad | a great hunter and no avail | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | do | past | lad not said here | many remarkable things | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | is | past | lad's courage and strength | of no avail | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | perish | would · perfect · passive | lad | for the help of a little squirrel; miserably property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | help | a little squirrel | nom help «act transitive»: of=patient |
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: «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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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