---
title: The place lacks the softness of moss and fern underfoot to which we… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The place lacks the softness of moss and fern underfoot to which we are accustomed in the real bush; nevertheless it has something of the atmosphere of the olden forest wild; grateful bush scents are in our nostrils, the leaf-covering is close, though the trees are not tall, and the twisting charact
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/50/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 50

# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The place lacks the softness of moss and fern underfoot to which we are accustomed in the real bush; nevertheless it has something of the atmosphere of the olden forest wild; grateful bush scents are in our nostrils, the leaf-covering is close, though the trees are not tall, and the twisting character of growth and the matting of creepers help to make compact the tentage of green.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** place, grateful bush scents, leaf covering, trees, twisting character · **What happens:** lack, accustom, have, be, not be, twist · **To what, where:** softness, we, real bush, something, nostrils, tentage

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (place, grateful bush scents, leaf covering, trees), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg73766:11:50
# text = The place lacks the softness of moss and fern underfoot to which we are accustomed in the real bush; nevertheless it has something of the atmosphere of the olden forest wild; grateful bush scents are in our nostrils, the leaf-covering is close, though the trees are not tall, and the twisting character of growth and the matting of creepers help to make compact the tentage of green.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lacks	lack	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	softness	softness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	moss	moss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	fern	fern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	underfoot	underfoot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	nevertheless	nevertheless	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	atmosphere	atmosphere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
32	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
34	grateful	grateful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	scents	scent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj	_	_
37	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	nostrils	nostril	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
43	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	covering	covering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
47	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
49	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
52	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
53	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	54	advmod	_	_
54	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	67	cc	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	twisting	twist	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	59	amod	_	_
59	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nsubj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	growth	growth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	matting	matting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	conj	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	creepers	creeper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	nmod	_	_
67	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	69	mark	_	_
69	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	xcomp	_	_
70	compact	compact	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	69	xcomp	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	tentage	tentage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	obj	_	_
73	of	of	ADP	IN	_	74	case	_	_
74	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lack** | present | the place | the softness of moss and fern underfoot |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **accustom** | present · passive |  | we |  | the real bush |  | to fern underfoot | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | present | place | something of the atmosphere of the olden forest |  |  |  | nevertheless *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | present | grateful bush scents |  |  | our nostrils |  | our *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | present | the leaf covering |  |  |  |  | close *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **is** | present | the trees |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **twist** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **help** | present | the twisting character of growth and the matting of creepers |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 9 | **make** | to-infinitive | the twisting character of growth and the matting of creepers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **compact** | infinitive | the twisting character of growth and the matting of creepers *not said here* | the tentage of green |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tentage=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/49/)
- next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/51/)
- ↑ back to [“the Crest of the Rainbow.”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/11/)