---
title: But _he_ said: “My ears are stronger”; for he was a coward, and woul… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: But _he_ said: “My ears are stronger”; for he was a coward, and would not give to pull on his pretty tail, of which he is proud. Who acts: Coyote, _, ears. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Brave Bobtails, with its depe
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Brave Bobtails, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But \_he\_ said: “My ears are stronger”; for he was a coward, and would not give to pull on his pretty tail, of which he is proud.

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**Who acts:** Coyote, \_, ears · **What happens:** \_, say, be, not give, pull · **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 Brave Bobtails. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Coyote, \_, ears), 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:pg77804:26:87
# text = But _he_ said: “My ears are stronger”; for he was a coward, and would not give to pull on his pretty tail, of which he is proud.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	_	_	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	_	_	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	coward	coward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	obl	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
35	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **\_** |  | Coyote |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | \_ |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | My ears |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | Coyote |  |  |  |  | for a coward | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **give** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **pull** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | on Coyote's pretty tail | vn push-12-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent on tail=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | present | Coyote |  |  |  |  | which *obl*; proud *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «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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