---
title: He was indeed a fine figure of a man, nearer seven feet than six fee… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: He was indeed a fine figure of a man, nearer seven feet than six feet high, it is said, very powerful, and a most skilful man in the use of the _taiaha_, the Maori broadsword of hard tough _akeake_, and the spear and the stone _mere_. Who acts: whakaputa. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/12/28/)

<!-- 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/) / [Rapaki: a Village By the Sea.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/12/) / 28

# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was indeed a fine figure of a man, nearer seven feet than six feet high, it is said, very powerful, and a most skilful man in the use of the \_taiaha\_, the Maori broadsword of hard tough \_akeake\_, and the spear and the stone \_mere\_.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** whakaputa · **What happens:** be, say, use · **To what, where:** fine figure, name, taiaha · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (whakaputa), 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:pg73766:12:28
# text = He was indeed a fine figure of a man, nearer seven feet than six feet high, it is said, very powerful, and a most skilful man in the use of the _taiaha_, the Maori broadsword of hard tough _akeake_, and the spear and the stone _mere_.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	amod	_	_
12	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	29	advmod	_	_
29	skilful	skilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	taiaha	taiaha	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	Maori	maori	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	broadsword	broadsword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
45	tough	tough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	akeake	akeake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	conj	_	_
56	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	mere	mere	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | whakaputa | a fine figure |  |  |  | of a man; a skilful man in the use of the taiaha *appos*; the Maori broadsword of hard tough akeake *appos*; the spear and the stone *appos*; mere *appos*; indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | name |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **use** |  |  | the taiaha |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/12/27/)
- next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/12/29/)
- ↑ back to [Rapaki: a Village By the Sea.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73766/12/)