---
title: It is madness to keep her a captive, But certain death if we let her… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: It is madness to keep her a captive, But certain death if we let her go free!” Who acts: word, we, certain death. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 17, sentence 91

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It is madness to keep her a captive, But certain death if we let her go free!”

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**Who acts:** word, we, certain death · **What happens:** be, keep, let, go · **To what, where:** madness, grandson, certain death

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (word, we, certain death), 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:pg78673:17:91
# text = It is madness to keep her a captive, But certain death if we let her go free!”
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	madness	madness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	captive	captive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | word | madness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | grandson |  |  |  | a captive *obj* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent she=Theme captive=Attribute |
| 3 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | we | certain death |  |  |  | grandson *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive | certain death *not said here* |  |  |  |  | free *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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:** «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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