---
title: The boys, knowing that she could easily break down the tree if they… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: The boys, knowing that she could easily break down the tree if they refused, came down. Who acts: boys, woman. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Hero Twins, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Hero Twins, sentence 52

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The boys, knowing that she could easily break down the tree if they refused, came down.

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**Who acts:** boys, woman · **What happens:** know, break down, refuse, come down · **To what, where:** tree · **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 (boys, woman), 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:pg77804:31:52
# text = The boys, knowing that she could easily break down the tree if they refused, came down.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
17	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	down	down	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | gerund | the boys *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **break down** | could | woman | the tree |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Patient |
| 3 | **refuse** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **come down** | past | the boys |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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