---
title: Lest readers should question the dimensions of that quarter of a mil… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Lest readers should question the dimensions of that quarter of a mile seine, let me say that in quite recent times, up to within the last thirty-five years or so, an old Ngati-Pikiao chief, the late Pokiha Taranui (better known as Major Fox), had a net nearly a mile in length, which was used on spec
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Rapaki: a Village By the Sea., sentence 95

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Lest readers should question the dimensions of that quarter of a mile seine, let me say that in quite recent times, up to within the last thirty-five years or so, an old Ngati-Pikiao chief, the late Pokiha Taranui (better known as Major Fox), had a net nearly a mile in length, which was used on special occasions, such as the gathering of food for native meetings; the locality was Maketu village, on the shores of the Bay of Plenty.

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**Who acts:** readers, me, locality · **What happens:** question, let, say, know, have, use · **To what, where:** dimensions, me, net, mile, special occasions, Maketu village · **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 (readers, me, locality), 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:pg73766:12:95
# text = Lest readers should question the dimensions of that quarter of a mile seine, let me say that in quite recent times, up to within the last thirty-five years or so, an old Ngati-Pikiao chief, the late Pokiha Taranui (better known as Major Fox), had a net nearly a mile in length, which was used on special occasions, such as the gathering of food for native meetings; the locality was Maketu village, on the shores of the Bay of Plenty.
1	Lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	readers	reader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	question	question	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dimensions	dimension	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	quarter	quarter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	seine	seine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	recent	recent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
24	up	up	ADP	RB	_	32	case	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	fixed	_	_
26	within	within	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
28	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
29	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
37	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
38	Ngati	Ngati	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	Pikiao	Pikiao	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	Pokiha	Pokiha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	parataxis	_	_
46	Taranui	Taranui	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	flat	_	_
47	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	49	advmod	_	_
49	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	parataxis	_	_
50	as	as	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	Major	major	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
55	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	ccomp	_	_
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
58	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
59	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
61	in	in	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
64	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	66	nsubj:pass	_	_
65	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux:pass	_	_
66	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	60	acl	_	_
67	on	on	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	amod	_	_
69	occasions	occasion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
71	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	74	case	_	_
72	as	as	ADP	IN	_	71	fixed	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	gathering	gathering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	nmod	_	_
75	of	of	ADP	IN	_	76	case	_	_
76	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	nmod	_	_
77	for	for	ADP	IN	_	79	case	_	_
78	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	79	amod	_	_
79	meetings	meeting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	85	punct	_	_
81	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	82	det	_	_
82	locality	locality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	85	nsubj	_	_
83	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	85	cop	_	_
84	Maketu	Maketu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	85	compound	_	_
85	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
86	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	89	punct	_	_
87	on	on	ADP	IN	_	89	case	_	_
88	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	89	det	_	_
89	shores	shore	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	85	conj	_	_
90	of	of	ADP	IN	_	92	case	_	_
91	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	92	det	_	_
92	Bay	Bay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	89	nmod	_	_
93	of	of	ADP	IN	_	94	case	_	_
94	Plenty	Plenty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	92	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
95	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **question** *speech: other* | should | readers | the dimensions of that quarter of a mile seine |  |  |  |  | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dimension=Recipient |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive | readers *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive | me *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **know** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | as Major Fox; well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer as fox=Attribute |
| 5 | **have** | past |  | a net |  |  | time | a mile *obj* | tree rules |
| 6 | **use** | past · passive |  | a mile |  | special occasions such the gathering of food |  | for native meetings | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: subject=Theme for meeting=Eventuality |
| 7 | **is a** | past | the locality | Maketu village and the shores of the Bay of Plenty |  |  |  | the shores of the Bay of Plenty *conj* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

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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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