---
title: The fierce dogs ran out to tear him; but when they came near they on… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: The fierce dogs ran out to tear him; but when they came near they only sniffed at him, and went away without hurting him. Who acts: fierce dogs, dogs. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The First of the Rattlesnakes, with it
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The First of the Rattlesnakes, sentence 45

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The fierce dogs ran out to tear him; but when they came near they only sniffed at him, and went away without hurting him.

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**Who acts:** fierce dogs, dogs · **What happens:** run out, tear, come, sniff, go away, hurt · **To what, where:** COYOTE

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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 First of the Rattlesnakes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fierce dogs, dogs), 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:pg77804:8:46
# text = The fierce dogs ran out to tear him; but when they came near they only sniffed at him, and went away without hurting him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
14	near	near	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	sniffed	sniff	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	hurting	hurt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run out** | past | the fierce dogs |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tear** | to-infinitive | the fierce dogs *not said here* | COYOTE |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location he=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | dogs *= dog* |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sniff** | past | dogs *= dog* |  |  |  |  | at COYOTE | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme |
| 5 | **go away** | past | the fierce dogs *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **hurt** | gerund | the fierce dogs *not said here* | COYOTE |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Patient |

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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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