---
title: The march downhill of this curious upstanding dyke of lava, grey aga… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The march downhill of this curious upstanding dyke of lava, grey against the more sombre tints of the range, may be traced in the masses of lava boulders through which the Rapaki water-course has cut its way in its lustier days. A sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zeal
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill., sentence 8

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The march downhill of this curious upstanding dyke of lava, grey against the more sombre tints of the range, may be traced in the masses of lava boulders through which the Rapaki water-course has cut its way in its lustier days.

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**What happens:** upstand, trace, cut · **To what, where:** march, masses, Rapaki water course, lava boulders

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, How the Sacred Fire Came to Witch Hill.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg73766:13:8
# text = The march downhill of this curious upstanding dyke of lava, grey against the more sombre tints of the range, may be traced in the masses of lava boulders through which the Rapaki water-course has cut its way in its lustier days.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	march	march	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	downhill	downhill	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
6	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	upstanding	upstand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	dyke	dyke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	appos	_	_
13	against	against	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	16	advmod	_	_
16	sombre	sombre	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	tints	tint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	range	range	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
22	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	traced	trace	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	masses	mass	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	lava	lava	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	obl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
34	Rapaki	Rapaki	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
35	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl:relcl	_	_
40	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
44	lustier	lusty	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	amod	_	_
45	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **upstand** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **trace** | may · passive |  | the march |  | the masses of lava boulders |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in mass=Destination |
| 3 | **cut** | present · perfect · passive |  | the Rapaki water course |  | lava boulders | day | course's way *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary way=Product |

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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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