--- title: There, on the white road that curves along the hillsides well above… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics description: There, on the white road that curves along the hillsides well above the waters of the Whanga-Raupo, it is easy to understand something of the fiery history of these hills, when the hollow that now is Lyttelton Harbour was one terrific nest of volcanoes and when the tremendous forces of confined stea --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/3/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Ca…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/) / [“the Crest of the Rainbow.”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/) / 3 # Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 3 There, on the white road that curves along the hillsides well above the waters of the Whanga-Raupo, it is easy to understand something of the fiery history of these hills, when the hollow that now is Lyttelton Harbour was one terrific nest of volcanoes and when the tremendous forces of confined steam and gases hurled whole mountain-tops skyward and helped to give savage shape to the walls of rhyolite rock that stand to-day little altered by the passage of the untold centuries of years. **Who acts:** white road, hollow, tremendous forces, rhyolite rock, untold centuries · **What happens:** curve, be, understand, confine, hurl, help · **To what, where:** waters, something, Lyttelton, one terrific nest, tops skyward, savage shape 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 (white road, hollow, tremendous forces, rhyolite rock), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg73766:11:3 # text = There, on the white road that curves along the hillsides well above the waters of the Whanga-Raupo, it is easy to understand something of the fiery history of these hills, when the hollow that now is Lyttelton Harbour was one terrific nest of volcanoes and when the tremendous forces of confined steam and gases hurled whole mountain-tops skyward and helped to give savage shape to the walls of rhyolite rock that stand to-day little altered by the passage of the untold centuries of years. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 3 on on ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 road road NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 appos _ _ 7 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 8 nsubj _ _ 8 curves curve VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ _ 9 along along ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 hillsides hillside NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 12 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 8 advmod _ _ 13 above above ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 waters water NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 18 Whanga Whanga PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 Raupo Raupo PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 expl _ _ 23 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 24 easy easy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 parataxis _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 csubj _ _ 27 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 26 obj _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 fiery fiery ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 history history NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 34 det _ _ 34 hills hill NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 36 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 27 conj _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 hollow hollow NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 39 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 47 nsubj _ _ 40 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 42 advmod _ _ 41 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 42 cop _ _ 42 Lyttelton Lyttelton PROPN NNP Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ _ 43 Harbour Harbour PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 flat _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 45 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 47 nummod _ _ 46 terrific terrific ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 acl:relcl _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 volcanoes volcano NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 nmod _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 51 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 60 advmod _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 53 tremendous tremendous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 54 amod _ _ 54 forces force NOUN NNS Number=Plur 60 nsubj _ _ 55 of of ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 confined confine VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 57 amod _ _ 57 steam steam NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nmod _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 gases gas NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 conj _ _ 60 hurled hurl VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 conj _ _ 61 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ _ 62 mountain mountain NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 63 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 62 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 64 tops top NOUN NNS Number=Plur 65 compound _ _ 65 skyward skyward NOUN NN Number=Sing 60 obj _ _ 66 and and CCONJ CC _ 67 cc _ _ 67 helped help VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 60 conj _ _ 68 to to PART TO _ 69 mark _ _ 69 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 67 xcomp _ _ 70 savage savage ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 71 amod _ _ 71 shape shape NOUN NN Number=Sing 69 obj _ _ 72 to to ADP IN _ 74 case _ _ 73 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 74 det _ _ 74 walls wall NOUN NNS Number=Plur 69 obl _ _ 75 of of ADP IN _ 77 case _ _ 76 rhyolite rhyolite NOUN NN Number=Sing 77 compound _ _ 77 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 74 nmod _ _ 78 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 79 nsubj _ _ 79 stand stand VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 77 acl:relcl _ _ 80 to to ADP IN _ 82 case _ SpaceAfter=No 81 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 80 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 82 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 79 obl _ _ 83 little little ADV RB Degree=Pos 84 advmod _ _ 84 altered alter VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 82 acl _ _ 85 by by ADP IN _ 87 case _ _ 86 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 87 det _ _ 87 passage passage NOUN NN Number=Sing 84 obl _ _ 88 of of ADP IN _ 91 case _ _ 89 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 91 det _ _ 90 untold untold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 91 amod _ _ 91 centuries century NOUN NNS Number=Plur 87 nmod _ _ 92 of of ADP IN _ 93 case _ _ 93 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 91 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 94 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **curve** | present | the white road | | | the waters of the Whanga Raupo | | along the hillsides; well *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP.material V PP.product»: agent=Material | | 2 | **is** | present | | | | | | easy *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **understand** | to-infinitive | | something of the fiery history of this hills | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus | | 4 | **is a** | present | | Lyttelton | | | now | | tree rules | | 5 | **is a** | past | the hollow | one terrific nest | | | | of volcanoes | tree rules | | 6 | **confine** | participle | | | | | | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **hurl** | past | the tremendous forces of confined steam and gases | tops skyward | | | | | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skyward=Theme | | 8 | **help** | past | the tremendous forces of confined steam and gases *not said here* | | | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 9 | **give** | to-infinitive | the tremendous forces of confined steam and gases *not said here* | savage shape | the walls of rhyolite rock | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent shape=Theme to wall=Recipient | | 10 | **stand** | present | rhyolite rock | | | | day | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 11 | **alter** | participle | | day *not said here* | | | | by the passage of the untold centuries of years; little *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 13 | **pass** | | the untold centuries of years | | | | | | nom passage «act intransitive»: of=agent | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/4/) - ↑ back to [“the Crest of the Rainbow.”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/)