---
title: The floods that sometimes tear down have worn pot-holes here and the… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The floods that sometimes tear down have worn pot-holes here and there, and there are shallow caves obscured by tangles of roots and Who acts: shallow caves. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, with its dependency t
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, “the Crest of the Rainbow.”, sentence 62

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The floods that sometimes tear down have worn pot-holes here and there, and there are shallow caves obscured by tangles of roots and

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**Who acts:** shallow caves · **What happens:** tear down, wear, be, obscure · **To what, where:** floods, shallow caves

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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 (shallow caves), 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:pg73766:11:62
# text = The floods that sometimes tear down have worn pot-holes here and there, and there are shallow caves obscured by tangles of roots and
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	floods	flood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	obj	_	_
4	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
5	tear	tear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
6	down	down	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
12	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	18	expl	_	_
18	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
19	shallow	shallow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	caves	cave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
21	obscured	obscure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	tangles	tangle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tear down** | present |  | the floods |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location that=Theme |
| 2 | **wear** | present · perfect · passive |  | the floods |  | here; there |  | pot holes *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **does** | present | shallow caves |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **obscure** | participle |  | shallow caves *not said here* |  |  |  | by tangles of roots | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «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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