--- title: He was very nimble, and caught it “on the fly”; but that very instan… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics description: He was very nimble, and caught it “on the fly”; but that very instant he was no longer the tall, handsome Young-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob, but a poor little Coyote, with great tears rolling down his cheeks. Who acts: Man, great tears. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo In --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/22/30/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The man who married the moon, and othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/) / [The Town of the Snake-girls](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/22/) / 30 # The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Town of the Snake-girls, sentence 30 He was very nimble, and caught it “on the fly”; but that very instant he was no longer the tall, handsome Young-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob, but a poor little Coyote, with great tears rolling down his cheeks. **Who acts:** Man, great tears · **What happens:** be, catch, not be, roll down · **To what, where:** wheel, cheeks This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Town of the Snake-girls. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Man, great tears), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg77804:22:30 # text = He was very nimble, and caught it “on the fly”; but that very instant he was no longer the tall, handsome Young-Man-Who-Embraces-a-Corncob, but a poor little Coyote, with great tears rolling down his cheeks. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 very very ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 nimble nimble ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 caught catch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 8 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 obj _ _ 9 “ " PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 on on ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 fly fly NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ” " PUNCT '' _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 ; ; PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 16 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 18 nsubj _ _ 17 very very ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 instant instant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 parataxis _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 cop _ _ 21 no no ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 18 advmod _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 tall tall ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 26 handsome handsome ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 27 Young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 Man Man PROPN NNP Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 Who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 Embraces embrace NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ SpaceAfter=No 36 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 Corncob corncob NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 39 but but CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 41 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 42 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 Coyote Coyote PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 with with ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 tears tear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 nmod _ _ 48 rolling roll VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 47 acl _ _ 49 down down ADP RP _ 48 compound:prt _ _ 50 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 51 nmod:poss _ _ 51 cheeks cheek NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | Man | | | | | nimble *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **catch** | past | Man *not said here* | wheel | | | | on the fly | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 3 | **not** **is** | past | Man | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **roll down** | gerund | great tears *not said here* | Man's cheeks | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cheek=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/22/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/22/31/) - ↑ back to [The Town of the Snake-girls](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg77804/22/)