---
title: “This is the way to pierce the Blue overhead,” said he; and off he s… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: “This is the way to pierce the Blue overhead,” said he; and off he spun high into the sky. Who acts: This, magician. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, Iktomi and the Fawn, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Fawn, sentence 82

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“This is the way to pierce the Blue overhead,” said he; and off he spun high into the sky.

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**Who acts:** This, magician · **What happens:** be, pierce, say, spin · **To what, where:** way, Blue overhead, sky · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg338:6:82
# text = “This is the way to pierce the Blue overhead,” said he; and off he spun high into the sky.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	overhead	overhead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	off	off	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	spun	spin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
20	high	high	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | the way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pierce** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | magician *not said here* | the Blue overhead |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent overhead=Patient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | magician |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **spin** | past | magician |  |  | the sky |  | high, off *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into sky=Trajectory |

<!-- .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:** «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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