---
title: The well-plucked Ngati-Irakehu and their kinsmen have title to say,… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The well-plucked Ngati-Irakehu and their kinsmen have title to say, as Nelson said of old of his fighting sailors, “We are few, but the right sort.” Who acts: plucked Ngati, Nelson, We. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Rapaki: a Village By t
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 15

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The well-plucked Ngati-Irakehu and their kinsmen have title to say, as Nelson said of old of his fighting sailors, “We are few, but the right sort.”

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**Who acts:** plucked Ngati, Nelson, We · **What happens:** pluck, have, say, be · **To what, where:** title · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (plucked Ngati, Nelson, We), 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:pg73766:12:15
# text = The well-plucked Ngati-Irakehu and their kinsmen have title to say, as Nelson said of old of his fighting sailors, “We are few, but the right sort.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	plucked	pluck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	Ngati	Ngati	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Irakehu	Irakehu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	kinsmen	kinsman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
11	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	title	title	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	Nelson	Nelson	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	fighting	fighting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pluck** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **have** | present | the plucked Ngati and Irakehu and Ngati's kinsmen | title |  |  |  | the right sort *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the plucked Ngati and Irakehu and Ngati's kinsmen *not said here* | title *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Nelson |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | We |  |  |  |  | few *property* | tree rules |

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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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