---
title: “But how is it, friend Coyote,” said the Woodpecker, politely, “that… — The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo I… · tree and pragmatics
description: “But how is it, friend Coyote,” said the Woodpecker, politely, “that your colors are so bright at first, but very soon become black?” Who acts: fire, colors. A sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Coyote and the Woodpecker, 
---

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# The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Coyote and the Woodpecker, sentence 31

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“But how is it, friend Coyote,” said the Woodpecker, politely, “that your colors are so bright at first, but very soon become black?”

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**Who acts:** fire, colors · **What happens:** be, say, become · **To what, where:** fire · **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 Coyote and the Woodpecker. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fire, colors), 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:pg77804:9:31
# text = “But how is it, friend Coyote,” said the Woodpecker, politely, “that your colors are so bright at first, but very soon become black?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
8	Coyote	Coyote	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Woodpecker	Woodpecker	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	colors	color	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	very	very	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	_
30	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
31	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | fire |  |  |  | friend *appos* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | fire |  |  |  |  | the Woodpecker *nsubj*; politely *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | your colors |  |  |  |  | bright *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **become** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | black, soon *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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