---
title: It grows two or three feet high, or sometimes higher, and it is so p… — Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury,… · tree and pragmatics
description: It grows two or three feet high, or sometimes higher, and it is so plentiful and so prone to spread that it has been placed on the Agricultural Department’s index expurgatorious as a noxious weed, in spite of all the sweet heathery perfume of its blossoms which the bees love. Who acts: plant, prone,
---

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# Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand, Mount Pleasant and Its “tapu.”, sentence 5

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It grows two or three feet high, or sometimes higher, and it is so plentiful and so prone to spread that it has been placed on the Agricultural Department’s index expurgatorious as a noxious weed, in spite of all the sweet heathery perfume of its blossoms which the bees love.

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**Who acts:** plant, prone, bees · **What happens:** grow, be, spread, place, love, spite · **To what, where:** high, plant, index, blossoms, sweet heathery perfume

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This is a sentence of «Maori folk-tales of the Port Hills, Canterbury, New Zealand» by James Cowan, Mount Pleasant and Its “tapu.”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (plant, prone, bees), 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:pg73766:15:5
# text = It grows two or three feet high, or sometimes higher, and it is so plentiful and so prone to spread that it has been placed on the Agricultural Department’s index expurgatorious as a noxious weed, in spite of all the sweet heathery perfume of its blossoms which the bees love.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	grows	grow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	conj	_	_
6	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	11	advmod	_	_
11	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	plentiful	plentiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	prone	prone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	spread	spread	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	advcl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	Agricultural	agricultural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	Department	Department	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	index	index	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	expurgatorious	expurgatorious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	noxious	noxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	weed	weed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	47	det:predet	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	heathery	heathery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	perfume	perfume	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	blossoms	blossom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
51	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	54	obj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
54	love	love	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | plant | high  two feet |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | plant |  |  |  |  | plentiful *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **spread** | to-infinitive | prone |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **place** | present · perfect · passive |  | plant |  | the Agricultural Department's index |  | in spite of all sweet heathery perfume of plant's blossoms | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on index=Destination |
| 5 | **love** | present | the bees | plant's blossoms |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 6 | **spite** |  |  | all sweet heathery perfume of plant's blossoms |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **perfume** |  |  | plant's blossoms |  |  |  |  | nom perfume «cognition 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.

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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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