---
title: This was a sign of gratitude used when words failed to interpret str… — Old Indian Legends · tree and pragmatics
description: This was a sign of gratitude used when words failed to interpret strong emotion. Who acts: This, words. A sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, The Tree-bound, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Old Indian Legends, The Tree-bound, sentence 143

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This was a sign of gratitude used when words failed to interpret strong emotion.

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**Who acts:** This, words · **What happens:** be, use, fail, not interpret · **To what, where:** sign, strong emotion

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This is a sentence of «Old Indian Legends» by Zitkala-Sa, The Tree-bound. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, words), 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:pg338:8:143
# text = This was a sign of gratitude used when words failed to interpret strong emotion.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	gratitude	gratitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	interpret	interpret	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	emotion	emotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | This | a sign |  |  |  | of gratitude | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | participle |  | a sign *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **fail** | past | words |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **interpret** | to-infinitive | words *not said here* | strong emotion |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent emotion=Theme |

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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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