---
title: To jump was certain death, for it was a thousand feet to the ground;… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: To jump was certain death, for it was a thousand feet to the ground; and climb he could not, for the smooth rock rose a thousand feet above his head. Who acts: death, smooth rock. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Sobbi
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Sobbing Pine, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To jump was certain death, for it was a thousand feet to the ground; and climb he could not, for the smooth rock rose a thousand feet above his head.

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**Who acts:** death, smooth rock · **What happens:** jump, be, climb, rise · **To what, where:** certain death, thousand feet, head

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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 Sobbing Pine. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (death, smooth rock), 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:pg77804:28:38
# text = To jump was certain death, for it was a thousand feet to the ground; and climb he could not, for the smooth rock rose a thousand feet above his head.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	jump	jump	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	climb	climb	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	advmod	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	nummod	_	_
30	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
31	above	above	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **jump** | to-infinitive |  | certain death |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme death=Trajectory |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | certain *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | death |  |  |  |  | for a thousand feet; to the ground | tree rules |
| 4 | **climb** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **rise** | past | the smooth rock | thousand feet |  | frog's head |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location foot=Theme |

<!-- .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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