---
title: There chanced to be in a cliff to the southward a nest of white crow… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: There chanced to be in a cliff to the southward a nest of white crows; and presently the young crows said: “_Nana_, what is that over there? Who acts: young crows, Nana. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Hero Twins, wit
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Hero Twins, sentence 13

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There chanced to be in a cliff to the southward a nest of white crows; and presently the young crows said: “\_Nana\_, what is that over there?

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**Who acts:** young crows, Nana · **What happens:** chance, be, say · **To what, where:** cliff · **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 Hero Twins. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (young crows, Nana), 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:pg77804:31:13
# text = There chanced to be in a cliff to the southward a nest of white crows; and presently the young crows said: “_Nana_, what is that over there?
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	chanced	chance	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	ccomp	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	southward	southward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	Nana	Nana	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	33	nsubj	_	_
30	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	over	over	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chance** | participle |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | a cliff |  | to the southward | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the young crows |  |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Nana |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj*; over, there *property* | tree rules |

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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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