---
title: And in its very shadow, when the sun westers, is a tangled grassy sp… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: And in its very shadow, when the sun westers, is a tangled grassy spot sacred to the memory of a heathen chief who would have none of the white man’s church or the white man’s beliefs. Who acts: heathen chief, twisting, white man. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Ze
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 74

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And in its very shadow, when the sun westers, is a tangled grassy spot sacred to the memory of a heathen chief who would have none of the white man’s church or the white man’s beliefs.

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**Who acts:** heathen chief, twisting, white man · **What happens:** be, spot, have, shadow, believe · **To what, where:** shadow, none

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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 (heathen chief, twisting, white man), 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:pg73766:12:74
# text = And in its very shadow, when the sun westers, is a tangled grassy spot sacred to the memory of a heathen chief who would have none of the white man’s church or the white man’s beliefs.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	westers	wester	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	tangled	tangled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	grassy	grassy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
16	spot	spot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
17	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	heathen	heathen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	27	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’s	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
35	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’s	's	PART	POS	_	38	case	_	_
40	beliefs	belief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  | twisting's shadow and sun westers |  | grassy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **spot** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | sacred *property* | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» |
| 3 | **have** | would | a heathen chief | none of the white man's church  the white man's beliefs |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent none=Patient |
| 4 | **shadow** |  | twisting |  |  |  |  |  | nom shadow «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 5 | **believe** |  | the white man |  |  |  |  |  | nom belief «cognition transitive»: poss=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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