---
title: It was standing still, but empty, But all the wood about it Was full… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: It was standing still, but empty, But all the wood about it Was full of great black serpents Which from the grass uprising Would look them in the face Then glide away in silence. Who acts: story, wood, great black serpents. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 14, sentence 16

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It was standing still, but empty, But all the wood about it Was full of great black serpents Which from the grass uprising Would look them in the face Then glide away in silence.

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**Who acts:** story, wood, great black serpents · **What happens:** stand, be, look, glide away · **To what, where:** serpents, grass uprising, silence

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (story, wood, great black serpents), 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:pg78673:14:16
# text = It was standing still, but empty, But all the wood about it Was full of great black serpents Which from the grass uprising Would look them in the face Then glide away in silence.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
9	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nmod	_	_
15	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
21	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	uprising	uprising	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
26	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl:relcl	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
33	glide	glide	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
34	away	away	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | story |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | all wood about story |  |  |  |  | of great black serpents; full *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **look** | would | great black serpents | serpents *= serpent* |  | the grass uprising |  | in the face | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Attribute |
| 4 | **glide away** | infinitive |  |  |  | silence | then | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in silence=Trajectory |

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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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