---
title: ’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing About a tree; on its summit There… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: ’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing About a tree; on its summit There sat a great Raccoon, And by their constant treading They had worn a trench in the ground-- Yea, in it, up to their waists. Who acts: wife, Twas. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 18, with 
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 18, sentence 132

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’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing About a tree; on its summit There sat a great Raccoon, And by their constant treading They had worn a trench in the ground-- Yea, in it, up to their waists.

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**Who acts:** wife, Twas · **What happens:** dance, sit, wear · **To what, where:** great Raccoon, summit, trench, ground

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, Twas), 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:pg78673:18:132
# text = ’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing About a tree; on its summit There sat a great Raccoon, And by their constant treading They had worn a trench in the ground-- Yea, in it, up to their waists.
1	’	'	PUNCT	NFP	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Twas	twa	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
11	About	about	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	summit	summit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
18	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
19	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	Raccoon	raccoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	constant	constant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	treading	treading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
29	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	trench	trench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	Yea	yea	INTJ	UH	_	31	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	up	up	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	waists	waist	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dance** | gerund | man's wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about a tree | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about tree=Location |
| 2 | **sit** | past | Twas | a great Raccoon |  | tree's summit; there |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent raccoon=Theme on summit=Location |
| 3 | **wear** | past · perfect | Twas *= twa* | a trench |  | the ground |  | by Twas's constant treading; in ground; to Twas's waists | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent trench=Source |

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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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- ← previous: [sentence 131](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/18/131/)
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- ↑ back to [Opening, part 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/18/)