---
title: It is not intended as an impolite remark, but merely refers to the f… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is not intended as an impolite remark, but merely refers to the firm belief of these quaint people that if one were to act like a stubborn donkey, and refuse to tell a story when called on, a donkey’s tail would grow upon him! Who acts: one, tail. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and 
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Magic Hide-and-seek, sentence 8

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It is not intended as an impolite remark, but merely refers to the firm belief of these quaint people that if one were to act like a stubborn donkey, and refuse to tell a story when called on, a donkey’s tail would grow upon him!

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**Who acts:** one, tail · **What happens:** not intend, refer, act, refuse, not tell, call on · **To what, where:** cá, story, quaint people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 Magic Hide-and-seek. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, tail), 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:pg77804:15:8
# text = It is not intended as an impolite remark, but merely refers to the firm belief of these quaint people that if one were to act like a stubborn donkey, and refuse to tell a story when called on, a donkey’s tail would grow upon him!
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	intended	intend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	impolite	impolite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	remark	remark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	refers	refer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
19	quaint	quaint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	act	act	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
27	like	like	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	stubborn	stubborn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
39	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	advcl	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	’s	's	PART	POS	_	43	case	_	_
45	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
48	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **intend** | present · passive |  | cá |  |  |  | as a impolite remark | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Topic as remark=Attribute |
| 2 | **refer** | present |  |  |  |  |  | to the firm belief of this quaint people; merely *property* | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to belief=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **act** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | one |  |  |  |  | like a stubborn donkey | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like donkey=Attribute |
| 4 | **refuse** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | a story |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |
| 6 | **call on** *speech: assert* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **grow** | would | a donkey's tail |  |  |  |  | upon story | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon he=Location |
| 8 | **believe** |  |  | this quaint people |  |  |  |  | nom belief «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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