---
title: He stepped Up to a tree by the river, And broke off a hole or knot A… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: He stepped Up to a tree by the river, And broke off a hole or knot And it turned to a living skull, But one which was ten times greater, And ten times more terrible Than that which the sorcerers used. Who acts: land, knot, one, sorcerers. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems»
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 11, sentence 72

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He stepped Up to a tree by the river, And broke off a hole or knot And it turned to a living skull, But one which was ten times greater, And ten times more terrible Than that which the sorcerers used.

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**Who acts:** land, knot, one, sorcerers · **What happens:** step up, break off, turn, be, use · **To what, where:** tree, hole, living skull

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (land, knot, one, sorcerers), 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:pg78673:11:72
# text = He stepped Up to a tree by the river, And broke off a hole or knot And it turned to a living skull, But one which was ten times greater, And ten times more terrible Than that which the sorcerers used.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
13	off	off	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
18	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	skull	skull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nsubj	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
30	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
35	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl:unmarked	_	_
37	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	38	advmod	_	_
38	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
39	Than	than	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	obl	_	_
41	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	obj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	sorcerers	sorcerer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
44	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step up** | past | land |  |  | a tree |  | by the river | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to tree=Destination |
| 2 | **break off** | past |  | a hole or knot |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hole=Patient |
| 3 | **turn** | past | knot |  |  | a living skull |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to skull=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** | past | one |  |  |  | time | which *nsubj*; great *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **use** | past | the sorcerers |  |  |  |  | which *obj* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=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:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (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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