---
title: He talked so nicely to a Horned Toad on the mesa[40] the other day,… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: He talked so nicely to a Horned Toad on the mesa[40] the other day, that the little creature put a _punta_ where he could find it the next time he went thither. Who acts: Quáh, little creature. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lum
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Maker of the Thunder-knives, sentence 19

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He talked so nicely to a Horned Toad on the mesa\[40\] the other day, that the little creature put a \_punta\_ where he could find it the next time he went thither.

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**Who acts:** Quáh, little creature · **What happens:** talk, put, find, go · **To what, where:** punta, creature, next time

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This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Maker of the Thunder-knives. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Quáh, little creature), 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:pg77804:12:19
# text = He talked so nicely to a Horned Toad on the mesa[40] the other day, that the little creature put a _punta_ where he could find it the next time he went thither.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	nicely	nicely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	Horned	horned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	Toad	toad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mesa	mesa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	40	40	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	13	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	punta	punta	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	31	punct	_	_
28	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	31	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	_
38	thither	thither	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | Quáh |  |  |  |  | to a Horned Toad on the mesa; nicely *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to toad=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **put** | past | the little creature | a punta |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent punta=Goal |
| 3 | **find** | could | Quáh | creature |  |  | time |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 4 | **go** | past | Quáh | the next time *not said here* |  |  |  | thither *property* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location time=Theme |

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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:** «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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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