---
title: He was falling, falling through space, and then he struck the ground… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: He was falling, falling through space, and then he struck the ground with such a bump he did not wish to breathe for a while. Who acts: Iktomi. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Coyote, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Coyote, sentence 42

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He was falling, falling through space, and then he struck the ground with such a bump he did not wish to breathe for a while.

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**Who acts:** Iktomi · **What happens:** fall, strike, not wish, breathe · **To what, where:** space, ground, bump

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This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Coyote. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Iktomi), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg338:5:42
# text = He was falling, falling through space, and then he struck the ground with such a bump he did not wish to breathe for a while.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	18	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	bump	bump	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past · progressive | Iktomi |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | gerund | Iktomi *not said here* |  |  | space |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through space=Location |
| 3 | **strike** | past | Iktomi | the ground |  |  | then | with such bump | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent ground=Patient with bump=Instrument |
| 4 | **not** **wish** | past · do-support | Iktomi | such bump *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **breathe** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Iktomi *not said here* |  |  |  | while |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Project Gutenberg book 338 (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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