---
title: There is a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slo… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: There is a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush, and in one place we force our way through a regular jungle of it, growing so thickly as almost to encourage the idea that a flax-mill would find profitable business here. Who acts: thick growth, we, flax mill, fl
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 29

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There is a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush, and in one place we force our way through a regular jungle of it, growing so thickly as almost to encourage the idea that a flax-mill would find profitable business here.

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**Who acts:** thick growth, we, flax mill, flax · **What happens:** be, force, grow, encourage, find · **To what, where:** way, one place, idea, profitable business

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thick growth, we, flax mill, flax), 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:pg73766:11:29
# text = There is a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush, and in one place we force our way through a regular jungle of it, growing so thickly as almost to encourage the idea that a flax-mill would find profitable business here.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	terraces	terrace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	slopes	slope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
15	above	above	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
23	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	force	force	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
25	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	through	through	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	regular	regular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	jungle	jungle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	thickly	thickly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	_
37	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	encourage	encourage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	_	49	nsubj	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	acl	_	_
50	profitable	profitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | a thick growth of flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **force** | present | we | our way |  | one place |  | through a regular jungle of place | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Recipient |
| 3 | **grow** | gerund | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thickly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **encourage** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | the idea |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Theme |
| 5 | **find** | would | a flax mill | profitable business |  | here |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent business=Topic |
| 6 | **grow** |  | flax on the little terraces and steep slopes above the bush |  |  |  |  |  | nom growth «process intransitive»: of=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:** «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Project Gutenberg book 73766 (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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